Medicaid spending for alcohol and drug abuse services in South Lake Tahoe up 155.8% in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in South Lake Tahoe submitted $60,926 in claims for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. That total represents a 155.8% jump compared to 2023, when those services generated $23,814 in Medicaid billing.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program managed by states and funded by both federal and state governments. It provides coverage for low-income families and individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it one of the country’s largest health care payers.

Because Medicaid funding is taxpayer supported, fluctuations in local claims shed light on how a community’s public health dollars are distributed.

The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” category tracks a set of Medicaid-billed services based on specific care type, grouped under standard HCPCS and CPT codes. For this analysis, each code was assigned to one service group by using set code ranges and prefixes to keep related services together, avoid double counting, and maintain consistency over time.

Although Medicaid payments grew in multiple service areas, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the eighth largest category in South Lake Tahoe by total payments in 2024.

Statewide in California, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services held the fourth spot for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

In the five years ending with 2024, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in South Lake Tahoe rose by $60,926, or 0%. Periods of faster growth were noted, especially with significant gains from year to year during 2022 and 2022.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment payments were distributed citywide but tended to be highest within a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 96150 represented $60,926 in approved Medicaid payments for the category. Collectively, the top 1 ZIP codes made up 100% of all Medicaid spending of this type in South Lake Tahoe for the year.

Within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, Medicaid reimbursement was also focused around a limited subset of billing codes.

For context, the 155.8% year-over-year increase in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Medicaid payments for South Lake Tahoe outpaced the 17.1% change for all Medicaid service categories in the city over the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal-state Medicaid spending totaled about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023—roughly 18% of all national health costs—marking a sharp rise from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This marks approximately 40% growth in just a few years, primarily due to expanded Medicaid enrollment and increased utilization during and after the COVID-19 public health emergency.

In recent federal budget policy, major proposals under the Trump administration aimed to decrease federal Medicaid contributions and change the program’s structure. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years. It also introduces changes like work requirements and greater cost-sharing, which may decrease coverage and federal funding for some recipients. Policymakers expect states to shoulder more costs as federal Medicaid growth becomes constrained, even as the program continues serving 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.