Dental Services Medicaid claims in East Syracuse rise to $32,146 in 2024

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows Medicaid providers in East Syracuse billed $32,146 in 2024 for services grouped under the Dental Services category. This represented a jump of 64.9% from 2023, when billings totaled $19,499 for the same category.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program run by the states and funded collaboratively by the federal and state governments, provides coverage for low-income groups, seniors, children and people with disabilities. It represents one of the largest components of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid relies on taxpayer funding, trends in a community’s medical billing reflect the organization of public health care expenditures locally.

The “Dental Services” grouping encompasses Medicaid-funded care defined by treatment type, using standardized HCPCS and CPT coding. For analysis, each code was assigned to a primary category according to its prefix and numeric sequence, which helped examine groups of related services without duplication or impacting historical rankings.

While spending through Medicaid increased for a number of other services, in 2024 Dental Services placed 10th among Medicaid billing categories by total payments in East Syracuse.

Statewide in New York, Dental Services ranked 11th based on Medicaid payments in 2024.

Over five years prior to 2024, Medicaid funding for Dental Services in East Syracuse rose by $28,487—an increase of 778.5%. Annual spending spikes were recorded in certain years, particularly in 2023 and 2020.

Dental Services Medicaid payments spanned East Syracuse but were chiefly concentrated within a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 13057 accounted for all $32,146 billed, representing 100% of the city’s Medicaid spending on Dental Services.

Within Dental Services, a select number of billing codes captured most of the Medicaid payments.

Comparatively, Dental Services Medicaid payments saw a 64.9% rise from 2023 to 2024, outpacing the 35% overall change recorded for all Medicaid claim categories in East Syracuse the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined national and state Medicaid spending totaled about $871.7 billion in the 2023 fiscal year, making up approximately 18% of total national health expenditures. This was a sharp increase from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This shift signals growth of around 40% in several years, mainly due to expanded enrollments and increased service use during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration have advanced major proposals aiming to decrease federal Medicaid funding and restructure the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is estimated to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over the coming decade. The legislation also introduces measures like work requirements and heightened cost-sharing, which could impact coverage and financial support for certain recipients. The reforms are expected to increase states’ share of costs and restrict federal Medicaid support growth, despite the program still 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.