In 2024, Medicaid providers in Pueblo billed $19,422,708 for services within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This represents a 0.7% uptick from 2023, when billing for these services reached $19,296,921.
Medicaid is a state-administered health insurance program, jointly financed by state and federal governments. It serves low-income people and families, seniors, children, and those with disabilities, making it a major component of the nation’s health care system. For more details, see the Commonwealth Fund explainer.
As Medicaid funding comes from public sources, shifts in local billing levels reflect how health care resources are distributed within a community.
The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category comprises Medicaid-billed services grouped by care type using standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. In this analysis, each billing code was assigned to one service category based on code prefixes and ranges, allowing the grouping of related services without double counting and maintaining accurate time-based rankings.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the fourth-highest Medicaid spending category in Pueblo for 2024, despite spending increases across several categories.
Statewide, this category held the third spot among Medicaid payment categories in Colorado for 2024.
Over the five years through 2024, Medicaid payments associated with Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Pueblo grew by $9,786,440, or 101.6%. There were periods of faster growth, particularly notable in 2020 and 2021 year-over-year increases.
Within Pueblo, Medicaid spending for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was not evenly spread but instead concentrated in a handful of ZIP codes. For 2024, the highest payments went to ZIP code 81001, with $14,576,045, followed by 81003 at $3,711,248, and 81008 with $917,352. These top 3 ZIP codes made up 98.9% of all Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Pueblo for the year.
Spending in this category was also focused among just a few billing codes.
Comparing the change locally, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Pueblo increased by 0.7% between 2024 and 2023. This contrasts with a 13.2% rise in payments across all Medicaid claim categories in the city during the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending totaled about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, accounting for nearly 18% of overall U.S. health care expenditure—up substantially from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This rise amounts to about 40% growth in a few years, mainly due to higher enrollment and greater care use throughout and after the pandemic period.
Recent federal budget actions from the Trump administration have proposed significant cuts to federal Medicaid support and major program changes. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is anticipated to reduce federal Medicaid funding by over $1 trillion in the next decade and introduces requirements and cost-sharing measures that could limit access and funding for some enrollees. These adjustments may shift more costs onto states and restrain expansion of federal Medicaid contributions, even as tens of millions of Americans rely on the program.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $9,636,268 | 152.6% |
| 2021 | $15,507,303 | 60.9% |
| 2022 | $18,244,864 | 17.7% |
| 2023 | $19,296,920 | 5.8% |
| 2024 | $19,422,708 | 0.7% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $39,380,913 | 27.9% |
| 2 | Evaluation and Management | $30,499,881 | 21.6% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $20,247,045 | 14.3% |
| 4 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $19,422,708 | 13.7% |
| 5 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $7,108,147 | 5% |
| 6 | Vision Services | $4,738,495 | 3.4% |
| 7 | Durable Medical Equipment | $3,719,849 | 2.6% |
| 8 | Procedures / Professional Services | $3,210,804 | 2.3% |
| 9 | Dental Services | $3,155,548 | 2.2% |
| 10 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $2,669,276 | 1.9% |
| 11 | Surgery | $2,317,619 | 1.6% |
| 12 | Radiology Procedures | $1,608,300 | 1.1% |
| 13 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $1,399,293 | 1% |
| 14 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $965,516 | 0.7% |
| 15 | Enteral and Parenteral Therapy | $647,993 | 0.5% |
| 16 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $83,642 | 0.1% |
| 17 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $60,401 | <0.1% |
| 18 | Anesthesia | $45,231 | <0.1% |
| 19 | Orthotic Procedures and services | $6,868 | <0.1% |
| 20 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $4,403 | <0.1% |
| 21 | Diagnostic Radiology Services | $361 | <0.1% |
| 22 | Temporary Codes | $239 | <0.1% |
| 23 | Outpatient PPS | $10 | <0.1% |
| 24 | Other Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| 24 | Screening Procedures | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| H0038 | Self-help/peer svc per 15min | $4,327,525 | 43 |
| H0017 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $2,098,311 | 10 |
| H0020 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $1,918,986 | 22 |
| H2014 | Skills train and dev, 15 min | $1,875,862 | 48 |
| H0004 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $1,718,224 | 20 |
| H0034 | Med trng & support per 15min | $1,389,377 | 11 |
| H2019 | Ther behav svc, per 15 min | $911,093 | 11 |
| H0046 | Mental health service, nos | $867,608 | 10 |
| H2011 | Crisis interven svc, 15 min | $794,636 | 10 |
| H2033 | Multisys ther/juvenile 15min | $664,972 | 10 |
| H0023 | Alcohol and/or drug outreach | $491,644 | 10 |
| H0032 | Mh svc plan dev by non-md | $448,565 | 68 |
| H0002 | Alcohol and/or drug screenin | $378,738 | 27 |
| H0039 | Asser com tx face-face/15min | $367,761 | 10 |
| H2017 | Psysoc rehab svc, per 15 min | $341,309 | 10 |
| H2036 | A/d tx program, per diem | $219,674 | 6 |
| H0033 | Oral med adm direct observe | $191,521 | 10 |
| H0005 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $169,678 | 20 |
| H2000 | Comp multidisipln evaluation | $99,821 | 11 |
| H2027 | Psychoed svc, per 15 min | $53,147 | 10 |
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.
