Dental Services in Lancaster accounted for $4,350,769 in Medicaid claims during 2024, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This reflects a 4.7% increase over 2023, when total claims reached $4,157,405 for the same category.
Medicaid, managed by the states and financed through both federal and state funds, supports low-income people and families, seniors, children, and those with disabilities, making it a major part of the nation’s health care system.
Since Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, local changes in billing help illustrate how public health resources are distributed within a community.
The Dental Services category includes a collection of Medicaid-billed procedures defined by service type, based on assigned HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this review, each billing code matched a single service grouping using set code prefixes and number ranges, which grouped related services together and avoided double counting, ensuring accuracy in tracking category rankings over time.
Dental Services was the fifth-largest Medicaid service category in Lancaster for 2024, based on total payment amounts, even as spending went up across several categories.
Statewide in California, Dental Services came in 11th by Medicaid payments in 2024.
In the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid-funded spending for Dental Services in Lancaster rose by $2,210,295—a 103.3% growth—driven by larger year-to-year gains, particularly during 2022 and 2021.
While payments for Dental Services covered providers throughout Lancaster, a few ZIP codes saw the highest concentrations. In 2024, Medicaid payments for Dental Services were greatest in 93534 ($2,077,355), 93535 ($1,310,396), and 93536 ($963,016), with these 3 ZIP codes making up 100% of Lancaster’s total Medicaid Dental Services payments that year.
Spending within the Dental Services group was also concentrated in a select number of billing codes.
Dental Services Medicaid payments in Lancaster posted a 4.7% rise between 2024 and 2023. In contrast, total Medicaid payments across all categories in the city during that period increased by 16.8%.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023. This made up close to 18% of all U.S. health expenses—up from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This increase—about 40% in a few years—resulted mainly from higher program enrollment and more frequent care use during and after the pandemic years.
Recent federal budget actions under the Trump administration have introduced extensive proposals to scale back federal Medicaid funding and change the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years and adds measures like work requirements and higher cost-sharing. Such policies could decrease coverage and funding for certain participants, with expectations of increased cost burdens on the states and capped growth for federal Medicaid assistance as the program continues to aid millions nationwide.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $2,140,474 | -23.2% |
| 2021 | $2,781,999 | 30% |
| 2022 | $3,893,262 | 39.9% |
| 2023 | $4,157,404 | 6.8% |
| 2024 | $4,350,768 | 4.7% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluation and Management | $32,389,636 | 36.5% |
| 2 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $18,041,220 | 20.4% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $11,367,122 | 12.8% |
| 4 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $4,667,726 | 5.3% |
| 5 | Dental Services | $4,350,768 | 4.9% |
| 6 | Radiology Procedures | $3,876,400 | 4.4% |
| 7 | Anesthesia | $3,410,639 | 3.8% |
| 8 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $3,106,863 | 3.5% |
| 9 | Surgery | $1,957,975 | 2.2% |
| 10 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $1,411,270 | 1.6% |
| 11 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $1,396,346 | 1.6% |
| 12 | Procedures / Professional Services | $1,196,738 | 1.4% |
| 13 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $736,630 | 0.8% |
| 14 | Durable Medical Equipment | $365,231 | 0.4% |
| 15 | Temporary Codes | $210,151 | 0.2% |
| 16 | Vision Services | $60,584 | 0.1% |
| 17 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $35,066 | <0.1% |
| 18 | Pathology and Laboratory Services | $29,445 | <0.1% |
| 19 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $20,456 | <0.1% |
| 20 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $15,751 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $1,716,811 | 469 |
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $951,716 | 440 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $577,178 | 530 |
| D0210 | Intraor comprehensive series | $359,143 | 262 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $139,998 | 272 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $135,699 | 195 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $120,787 | 273 |
| D0603 | Caries risk assess high risk | $99,707 | 170 |
| D0350 | Oral/facial photo images | $70,144 | 147 |
| D0145 | Oral evaluation, pt < 3yrs | $68,480 | 48 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $68,002 | 129 |
| D0340 | 2d cephalometric image | $19,700 | 21 |
| D0140 | Limit oral eval problm focus | $15,540 | 28 |
| D0602 | Caries risk assess mod risk | $3,495 | 13 |
| D0601 | Caries risk assess low risk | $3,165 | 16 |
| D0270 | Dental bitewing single image | $1,200 | 16 |
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.
