Tooele Medicaid costs for alcohol, drug abuse treatment climb to $11.7 million in 2024

Providers in Tooele billed Medicaid a total of $11,680,160 for services categorized as Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database reports. This represented a 34.6% increase over 2023, when claims for these services totaled $8,678,198.

Medicaid, a public health insurance initiative overseen by each state and funded in partnership by the federal and state governments, offers coverage to low-income individuals, families, seniors, children and those with disabilities. It remains a major component of the U.S. health care landscape.

Since Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, variations in local billing indicate how public health funds are spent in a specific area.

The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” category encompasses a set of Medicaid services defined by the specific care rendered, using grouped HCPCS and CPT codes. For the purpose of this analysis, each code was assigned to a distinct service category following consistent prefix and range rules, ensuring similar services are analyzed together, with no duplication and accurate trend comparisons.

Although spending grew across several service types, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment ranked highest in Tooele for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

At the state level in Utah, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment placed second for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid payments tied to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Tooele grew by $8,815,660, equating to a 307.8% rise. Growth was particularly marked in certain years, with significant year-over-year increases in both 2020 and 2023.

Spending for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Tooele was distributed citywide, but most Medicaid payments were concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 84074 saw Medicaid payments for this category reach $11,680,160. The leading ZIP code accounted for 100% of all Medicaid payments tied to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services in Tooele during 2024.

Within this treatment category, the bulk of Medicaid payments was linked to a small group of specific billing codes.

For additional context, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services in Tooele rose by 34.6% between 2024 and 2023. This compares to a 26% increase across all Medicaid claim categories in the city over the same time period.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data shows that federal and state Medicaid spending totaled around $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023. This made up nearly 18% of national health expenditures, up significantly from about $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase reflects about 40% growth over the period, largely attributed to broader enrollment and greater use following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget actions during the Trump administration featured key proposals to curtail federal Medicaid financing and redesign the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is estimated to reduce federal Medicaid outlays by over $1 trillion in the next 10 years. It brings in work requirements and higher cost-sharing, potentially affecting coverage levels and funding for some enrollees. These adjustments are likely to place a greater fiscal burden on states while capping federal Medicaid growth, even as the program serves 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.