Medicaid spending on dental services in Cleveland reaches $5,986 in 2024

In 2024, Cleveland Medicaid providers reported $5,986 in payments for Dental Services, according to information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represented a 0.1% rise compared with 2023, when Medicaid claims for the category reached $5,982.

Medicaid is a state-administered public health insurance program funded both federally and by individual states. It covers low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a substantial segment of the U.S. health care system.

As Medicaid payments are taxpayer-funded, fluctuations in billing locally point to how health care resources are distributed in a particular community.

The “Dental Services” group is defined by providers’ claimed types of care, structured with standardized HCPCS and CPT code ranges. For this review, each billing code was assigned to only one service category using consistent rules to allow fair tracking of trends, avoid duplicate counts, and ensure continued accuracy in rankings.

Though multiple categories saw increases in Medicaid spending, Dental Services ranked as the second-highest Medicaid payment category in Cleveland for 2024.

Across Alabama, Dental Services were ninth in total Medicaid payments by category in 2024.

Between 2020 and 2024, Cleveland’s Medicaid payments covering Dental Services rose by $2,412, equating to a 67.5% increase. There were especially notable annual rises in both 2021 and 2022.

Medicaid reimbursements for Dental Services in 2024 were distributed throughout Cleveland but concentrated highly in a small group of ZIP codes. The highest concentration was in ZIP code 35049, which amounted to $5,986. The leading 1 ZIP code represented 100% of Medicaid Dental Service payments for the year in Cleveland.

The Dental Services category also saw Medicaid funds heavily focused on a few specific billing codes.

To compare, Medicaid payments for Dental Services in Cleveland increased just 0.1% between 2024 and 2023, while overall Medicaid payments across all service categories in the city rose by 25.4% during the same span.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services state that federal and state Medicaid spending approached $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, amounting to roughly 18% of all U.S. health expenditures. This figure sharply increased from about $613.5 billion in 2019, before the pandemic began.

This jump shows overall growth close to 40% in just a few years due primarily to expanded Medicaid enrollment and increased health service utilization during and after the pandemic.

Federal budget reforms under the Trump administration include major policy proposals targeting a reduction in Medicaid spending and structural program changes. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, will cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next 10 years and bring in new rules such as mandatory work requirements and greater cost-sharing, possibly impacting eligibility and federal aid for certain recipients. These modifications are predicted to cause a higher financial burden for states and constrain federal funding growth, even though Medicaid continues to cover tens of millions across the U.S.

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.