Atlantic City Medicaid spending on alcohol and drug treatment climbs 0.9% in 2024

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows that Medicaid providers in Atlantic City billed $48,523,741 in 2024 for services falling under the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category. This amount represents a 0.9% rise compared with 2023, when $48,097,181 in claims were submitted for the same service category.

Medicaid operates as a public insurance initiative managed by individual states and supported in partnership by federal and state governments. The program serves low-income residents, children, seniors, and people with disabilities, making it a key component of the U.S. health care landscape.

Since Medicaid funding is sourced from taxpayers, fluctuations in local billing provide insight into how public health care resources are distributed within communities.

The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” label groups together certain Medicaid-billed services based on the specific care provided, which is defined by standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. In this study, billing codes were linked to a single service category through consistent use of code prefixes and number sequences to track trends without overlap and ensure reliable rankings year to year.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment represented the leading category for total Medicaid spending in Atlantic City in 2024, as Medicaid payments rose across several service areas.

Statewide in New Jersey, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment likewise ranked at the top for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Between the previous five years and 2024, Atlantic City saw Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment rise by $10,663,653, or 28.2%. Periods of accelerated growth occurred, with pronounced year-over-year increases in 2023 and 2022.

Although funding for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was allocated citywide, the largest share was linked to a small set of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 08401 alone accounted for $48,523,740, with this area representing 100% of the city’s Medicaid spending on the category during the year.

Within this treatment category, a select group of billing codes accounted for most Medicaid payments.

For context, between 2024 and 2023, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Atlantic City climbed 0.9%, while the total across all Medicaid claim categories went up 1.9% within the city during the same timeframe.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending reached approximately $871.7 billion during fiscal year 2023, which represented about 18% of overall U.S. health expenditures. That figure is up significantly from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This gain equates to about 40% growth over a few years, tied largely to more enrollees and increased demand during and following the pandemic.

Federal budget legislation during the Trump administration featured several proposals to reduce federal spending on Medicaid and alter the program’s structure. Notably, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is expected to cut more than $1 trillion in federal Medicaid outlays over the next 10 years and implements measures like work requirements and higher cost-sharing that may restrict some beneficiaries’ access and funding. Such policy changes are projected to pass more responsibility to states and may slow federal support, though Medicaid continues to cover tens of millions of Americans.

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.