In 2024, Medicaid providers in Houma billed $16,064,233 for services under the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database show. This represents a 12.4% rise from 2023, when the total for these claims was $14,287,821.
Medicaid, the public health insurance program administered by states and supported by joint federal and state funding, provides coverage to low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It remains among the largest components of the nation’s health care system.
As Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, fluctuations in local billing provide insight into how health care resources are distributed within communities.
The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” group includes a range of Medicaid service codes defined by the nature of the care, identified using standardized HCPCS and CPT code ranges. For this report, billing codes were mapped to individual service categories according to set code prefixes and numbers, ensuring related services are grouped without duplication while maintaining accurate historical rankings.
Despite overall spending growing across various categories, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment stood as Houma’s second-highest Medicaid service category by total payments for 2024.
Statewide, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment grouping ranked fourth in Louisiana for total Medicaid payments during 2024.
Over the five-year period ending in 2024, Medicaid spending tracked to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services in Houma increased by $2,555,570, or 18.9%. Notable jumps were observed in certain years, most prominently in 2020 and 2023.
Distribution of spending for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services spanned across Houma, though a small number of ZIP codes comprised the majority of the total. In 2024, ZIP code 70360 accounted for $15,151,245 and ZIP code 70363 for $912,987, with these two ZIPs making up 100% of all Medicaid payments related to this service area in the city for the year.
Within this category, most Medicaid dollars were tied to only a handful of billing codes.
For reference, the 12.4% increase in Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Houma between 2023 and 2024 outpaced the 3.9% rise across all Medicaid service categories in the area over that timeframe.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, joint federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached approximately $871.7 billion during the 2023 fiscal year, making up roughly 18% of total U.S. health spending—a substantial increase from about $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This surge reflects almost 40% growth in just a few years, influenced primarily by increased enrollment and greater service use over and after the pandemic.
Recent changes in federal law under the Trump administration have proposed major reductions and reforms to federal Medicaid support. Measures in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, are projected to decrease federal Medicaid expenditures by more than $1 trillion over a decade while instituting requirements such as employment conditions and higher out-of-pocket costs that may reduce recipient coverage and federal funding. As a result, states may face more financial responsibility and limited federal Medicaid expansion while the program remains vital for millions.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $13,508,663 | 52.8% |
| 2021 | $13,415,278 | -0.7% |
| 2022 | $13,283,154 | -1% |
| 2023 | $14,287,820 | 7.6% |
| 2024 | $16,064,232 | 12.4% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $25,498,173 | 34.2% |
| 2 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $16,064,232 | 21.6% |
| 3 | Evaluation and Management | $14,752,076 | 19.8% |
| 4 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $5,776,549 | 7.8% |
| 5 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $4,139,235 | 5.6% |
| 6 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $3,481,743 | 4.7% |
| 7 | Dental Services | $1,324,570 | 1.8% |
| 8 | Radiology Procedures | $1,077,741 | 1.4% |
| 9 | Surgery | $732,082 | 1% |
| 10 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $457,359 | 0.6% |
| 11 | Durable Medical Equipment | $414,724 | 0.6% |
| 12 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $218,932 | 0.3% |
| 13 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $162,629 | 0.2% |
| 14 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $109,623 | 0.1% |
| 15 | Vision Services | $108,118 | 0.1% |
| 16 | Procedures / Professional Services | $79,737 | 0.1% |
| 17 | Anesthesia | $53,601 | 0.1% |
| 18 | Temporary Codes | $21,994 | <0.1% |
| 19 | Chemotherapy Drugs | $16,479 | <0.1% |
| 20 | Outpatient PPS | $11,321 | <0.1% |
| 21 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $4,175 | <0.1% |
| 22 | Miscellaneous Medical Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| 22 | Prosthetic Procedures | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| H0039 | Asser com tx face-face/15min | $7,234,952 | 11 |
| H2020 | Ther behav svc, per diem | $3,544,965 | 266 |
| H2022 | Com wrap-around sv, per diem | $2,731,260 | 11 |
| H2017 | Psysoc rehab svc, per 15 min | $1,161,198 | 354 |
| H2025 | Supp maint employ, 15 min | $813,173 | 11 |
| H0036 | Comm psy face-face per 15min | $489,559 | 89 |
| H2026 | Supp maint employ, per diem | $89,122 | 3 |
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.
