Santa Rosa Medicaid claims for alcohol, drug abuse treatment surged 106% in 2024, totaling $276,476

Santa Rosa Medicaid providers submitted $276,476 in claims for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. That amount was up 105.8% from 2023, when $134,344 was billed for the same services.

Medicaid operates as a public insurance program managed by the states and funded jointly by federal and state governments. It serves low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and those with disabilities, forming a major component of the U.S. health care system.

Because Medicaid dollars are taxpayer-funded, fluctuations in billing amounts provide insight into the local distribution of public health expenditures.

The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category includes Medicaid-billed services defined by the nature of care, using standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this review, each billing code was placed under a single service group with set code prefixes and numeric spans, allowing analysts to track related services, minimize duplicate counts, and maintain accurate category standings.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the third largest service category by Medicaid payments in Santa Rosa in 2024, even as spending grew in several categories.

Statewide in New Mexico, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment ranked fourth for Medicaid payments in 2024.

Across the five-year period through 2024, Medicaid expenditures tied to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Santa Rosa increased $28,339, or 11.4%. Some years saw faster growth, including significant year-over-year gains recorded in 2023 and 2020.

While these services were provided across the city, the majority of expenditures were focused in just a handful of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 88435 reported the highest total—$276,475—for Medicaid payments in this category. This area alone accounted for 100% of such Medicaid spending in Santa Rosa that year.

Most Medicaid funding for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was attributed to a small number of specific billing codes.

Looking at all claims, Medicaid spending for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Santa Rosa climbed 105.8% between 2024 and 2023, compared with a 0.1% change for all Medicaid claim categories citywide during this time frame.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending hit about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up approximately 18% of all national health spending. This is a sizable jump from around $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This nearly 40% rise over several years has been largely driven by increased enrollment and service use during and after the pandemic.

Federal budget legislation passed during the Trump administration contained major proposals to trim federal Medicaid outlays and restructure the program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to cut federal Medicaid funding by over $1 trillion in the next decade, while introducing work requirements and greater cost-sharing—changes that may reduce support for some beneficiaries. As a result, states are expected to bear more costs and experience a cap on federal Medicaid support, even as enrollment stays high.

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.