Las Vegas Medicaid payments for alcohol and drug abuse care total $35 million in 2024

Las Vegas Medicaid providers billed a total of $35,091,123 for services categorized as Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in 2024, according to information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This was a 7.8% rise from the previous year, when billings for these services reached $32,559,609.

Medicaid is a government health coverage program managed at the state level and financed together by federal and state governments. It serves low-income adults and families, older adults, children, and people with disabilities, representing a major segment of U.S. health spending.

Because Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, shifts in local billing patterns show how health care resources are distributed within a community.

The category “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” refers to an array of Medicaid services defined by types of care, using standard HCPCS and CPT code groupings. Service categories in this analysis were assigned by aligning billing code prefixes and ranges, allowing for accurate grouping of related services, prevention of duplicate counting, and consistent tracking over time.

Although multiple Medicaid service categories saw growth, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the fifth-largest Medicaid payment category in Las Vegas for 2024.

Statewide in Nevada, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was ranked sixth by Medicaid payment total for 2024.

Between 2019 and 2024, Las Vegas Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment rose by $389,133, an increase of 1.1%. The rate of growth accelerated during select periods, notably in 2020 and 2021 year over year.

While payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services were dispersed throughout Las Vegas, some ZIP codes accounted for more bills than others. In 2024, the highest Medicaid payments for these services were recorded in ZIP codes 89102 ($5,003,278), 89130 ($4,800,497), and 89106 ($4,605,352). Together, these three ZIP codes comprised 41.1% of all Medicaid Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment payments in the city that year.

Within this service category, a limited group of individual Medicaid billing codes made up the majority of payments.

Comparatively, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Las Vegas rose by 7.8% from 2023 to 2024, while the increase across all Medicaid claim categories in the city during that time was 0.7%.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up around 18% of the country’s total health expenditures—a significant jump from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase is equivalent to approximately 40% growth within a few years, largely attributed to greater enrollment and higher usage during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures enacted under the Trump administration have included proposals to decrease federal Medicaid support and change program structure. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion in the coming decade, with provisions for work requirements and higher cost-sharing that could reduce coverage for some individuals. These changes may lead to greater state responsibility and restrict federal funding growth, even as Medicaid continues serving 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.