Medicaid dental service costs climb to $104,178 in Clarksburg for 2024

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows that Medicaid providers in Clarksburg billed $104,178 for Dental Services in 2024. This total represents a 75% increase from 2023, when $59,543 in claims were filed for the same services.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program operated by states and financed in partnership between federal and state governments. Serving low-income individuals, families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, it is one of the largest components of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid is publicly funded, changes in local billing provide a view of how community health care funding is directed.

The “Dental Services” category groups Medicaid-billed services by clinical type, based on standard HCPCS and CPT code systems. Each billing code was matched with a unique service category for this analysis, using systematic code prefixes and ranges. This approach ensured related services were grouped appropriately while double counting was prevented, preserving accurate category rankings over time.

Diverse service categories saw higher Medicaid spending, with Dental Services ranking second by total Medicaid payments in Clarksburg during 2024.

Statewide in Maryland, Dental Services placed seventh among all Medicaid payment categories for 2024.

Looking over the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments for Dental Services in Clarksburg rose by $100,291, or 2580.1%. Certain years, including 2023 and 2020, saw especially high year-over-year increases in spending.

Dental Services costs were distributed across Clarksburg, but most payments came from a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 20871 recorded $104,177 in Medicaid Dental Services charges. The top single ZIP code accounted for 100% of Clarksburg’s total Medicaid payments in this category that year.

Medicaid payments within Dental Services were also concentrated in a few specific billing codes.

Comparing 2024 and 2023, Medicaid Dental Services payments in Clarksburg went up 75%, while all Medicaid claim types in the city experienced a 72.9% increase during the same timeframe.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, total federal and state Medicaid spending was about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This figure makes up around 18% of U.S. health spending and is a sharp rise from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This expansion equals an increase of approximately 40% in just a few years, primarily due to higher enrollment and increased health service utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws under the Trump administration have brought forward significant reductions in federal Medicaid funding and program restructuring. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next ten years. It introduces measures such as work requirements and increased cost-sharing, potentially restricting benefits and funds for certain groups. These policies are anticipated to shift financial responsibility to states and limit federal Medicaid growth, though the program still covers tens of millions nationwide.

Note: HCPCS codes are shown for context within the category. Category totals and rankings in this article are based on standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.

Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The source data can be found here.