In 2024, Medicaid providers in Redwood City billed $1,099,880 for Dental Services, as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. That amount reflects a 28.6% jump from 2023, when providers filed $855,408 in claims for dental care services.
Medicaid is a state-administered public health insurance program that is funded collaboratively by federal and state governments. The program delivers coverage to low-income residents, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it one of the biggest components of the U.S. health system.
Because Medicaid is taxpayer funded, shifts in local billing provide insight into how public health resources are distributed within a community.
The “Dental Services” category encompasses a defined set of Medicaid-billed procedures based on standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. This analysis placed each billing code into a specific service category using fixed code prefixes and numeric ranges, which allows for grouping related procedures, avoids counting any service more than once, and supports accurate time-based rankings.
Spending increases were reported across several Medicaid service areas, with Dental Services ranking sixth by total Medicaid dollars in Redwood City for 2024.
Statewide in California, Dental Services ranked as the 11th highest service category by Medicaid payment in 2024.
Medicaid payments for Dental Services in Redwood City rose by $435,380, or 65.5%, within the five years preceding 2024. There were periods where this growth accelerated, such as in 2021 and 2023, when year-over-year spending jumps were especially notable.
Though dental care spending was spread across Redwood City, a small number of ZIP codes received most payments. In 2024, ZIP code 94062 accounted for $885,032, followed by 94063 with $99,815 and 94061 with $91,206. Combined, these top 3 ZIP codes represented 97.8% of Medicaid payments for Dental Services in the city during the year.
Within the Dental Services category, Medicaid expenditures were also highly concentrated among a few billing codes.
To compare, Medicaid payments for Dental Services grew 28.6% from 2023 to 2024 in Redwood City, outpacing the 10.5% overall growth rate for Medicaid claim payments in the city during the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined state and federal Medicaid expenditures totaled about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, which was approximately 18% of all national health expenditures. This is a significant increase from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This change reflects an increase of around 40% over just a few years, driven primarily by greater enrollment and increased service utilization during and after the pandemic.
Recent federal budget laws enacted under the Trump administration have included major efforts to cut federal Medicaid funding and restructure the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is projected to decrease federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years. The measure introduces policies such as work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could reduce coverage and available funds for certain beneficiaries. As a result, more costs are expected to shift to the states, potentially constraining future federal support for Medicaid even as enrollment remains high.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $664,500 | -28.4% |
| 2021 | $967,291 | 45.6% |
| 2022 | $715,852 | -26% |
| 2023 | $855,407 | 19.5% |
| 2024 | $1,099,879 | 28.6% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $14,039,043 | 32.9% |
| 2 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $9,696,599 | 22.7% |
| 3 | Evaluation and Management | $8,006,581 | 18.8% |
| 4 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $4,943,012 | 11.6% |
| 5 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $2,862,518 | 6.7% |
| 6 | Dental Services | $1,099,879 | 2.6% |
| 7 | Radiology Procedures | $1,062,954 | 2.5% |
| 8 | Procedures / Professional Services | $520,330 | 1.2% |
| 9 | Anesthesia | $164,841 | 0.4% |
| 10 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $137,910 | 0.3% |
| 11 | Surgery | $50,816 | 0.1% |
| 12 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $46,473 | 0.1% |
| 13 | Vision Services | $42,193 | 0.1% |
| 14 | Temporary Codes | $9,201 | <0.1% |
| 15 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $6,128 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $1,018 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $327,209 | 68 |
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $201,890 | 78 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $116,127 | 73 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $107,273 | 56 |
| D0210 | Intraor comprehensive series | $77,736 | 41 |
| D0603 | Caries risk assess high risk | $70,511 | 42 |
| D0145 | Oral evaluation, pt < 3yrs | $39,755 | 25 |
| D0350 | Oral/facial photo images | $29,109 | 22 |
| D0601 | Caries risk assess low risk | $27,193 | 20 |
| D0160 | Extensv oral eval prob focus | $23,530 | 8 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $21,916 | 69 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $21,372 | 38 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $20,660 | 17 |
| D0340 | 2d cephalometric image | $8,720 | 8 |
| D0140 | Limit oral eval problm focus | $4,231 | 6 |
| D0602 | Caries risk assess mod risk | $2,643 | 12 |
| D0270 | Dental bitewing single image | $0 | 9 |
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 sourced from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The original data can be accessed here.