Thorndale’s Medicaid outlays for alcohol and drug abuse treatment climb to $62,430 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Thorndale charged $62,430 for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This reflected a 511.1% rise from 2023, when providers submitted $10,216 in claims within this category.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program managed by states and funded by both federal and state governments, serves low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. As such, it is among the largest components of U.S. health care.

Because taxpayer dollars fund Medicaid, variations in billing locally reflect the allocation of public health care resources within communities.

The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” designation represents a set of Medicaid-billed services organized by care type, using recognized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. To ensure accuracy in this analysis, each billing code is assigned to one service group based on uniform code prefixes and number ranges. This approach allows related services to be tracked together without double counting, maintaining consistent rankings over time.

While there were Medicaid spending increases for several service categories, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment ranked as the third-largest category in Thorndale by payment volume in 2024.

Statewide in Pennsylvania, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment led in total Medicaid payments in 2024.

During the five years prior to 2024, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Thorndale rose by $62,430, resulting in 0% growth. Some years saw more rapid spending gains, with significant increases noted in both 2023 and 2022.

Spending for these services was spread across Thorndale, but the majority of payments were concentrated within a small group of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 19372 accounted for $62,430, representing 100% of Medicaid payments tied to this treatment type in Thorndale that year.

Payments under the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category were also focused on a select group of billing codes.

Comparatively, Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Thorndale grew by 511.1% from 2023 to 2024, whereas overall Medicaid claims in the city increased by 2.8% in the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending totaled about $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023, making up around 18% of overall national health expenditures—an increase from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This growth—nearly 40% over just a few years—has been largely attributed to expanded enrollment and greater service utilization during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget legislation enacted during the Trump administration introduced major proposals to curtail federal Medicaid contributions and restructure elements of the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over 10 years. The law also adds work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could shrink coverage and funding for some recipients. These policies are expected to shift more financial responsibility to states and restrict federal Medicaid growth, despite the program 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.