Castaic Medicaid dental service payments climbed to $5,025 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Castaic billed $5,025 for Dental Services, as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This total represents a 55.9% rise from 2023, when billed claims in this category reached $3,223.

Medicaid is a public insurance program administered by states and funded jointly by the federal and state governments. It provides coverage to low-income families and individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a significant component of the U.S. health care landscape.

Because Medicaid relies on taxpayer funds, fluctuations in community billing help illustrate how public resources are directed locally in health care.

The “Dental Services” designation encompasses several services billed to Medicaid, categorized by care type and determined by standard HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this report, billing codes were assigned to one service group each, based on code prefixes and ranges, allowing grouped analysis of related services, avoiding duplication, and maintaining historical ranking accuracy.

Dental Services received the highest total Medicaid payments of any service group in Castaic for 2024, surpassing other local categories even as Medicaid expenditures increased across multiple areas.

Statewide in California, Dental Services ranked 11th among payment categories for 2024.

Between 2020 and 2024, Castaic Medicaid spending for Dental Services climbed by $5,025, or 0%. Periods of rapid growth included year-over-year gains in 2021 and 2022.

While spending within the Dental Services group occurred throughout Castaic, payment activity was especially concentrated in just a few ZIP codes. In 2024, the ZIP code with the most Medicaid Dental Services payments was 91384, totaling $5,024. Overall, the top 1 ZIP code made up 100% of Castaic’s Medicaid dental payment total for the year.

Individual billing codes within the Dental Services group also revealed a concentration of Medicaid payments among select code types.

To compare, Castaic’s Medicaid payments for Dental Services went up 55.9% from 2023 to 2024, matching the 55.9% growth seen across all Medicaid claim categories in the city during the same time frame.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending was estimated at $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023—accounting for nearly 18% of the nation’s total health expenditures and up sharply from about $613.5 billion in 2019, which predated the COVID-19 pandemic.

This overall increase represents growth of about 40% in just a few years, largely attributed to expanded enrollment and greater utilization during the pandemic and its aftermath.

Recent federal budget measures from the Trump administration have introduced sizable proposals to reduce federal Medicaid funding and alter the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is planned to cut more than $1 trillion in federal Medicaid dollars over the coming decade and implements new requirements such as work mandates and higher cost-sharing, potentially impacting both the extent of coverage and program funding for certain groups. These reforms are expected to place greater financial responsibility on states and slow federal Medicaid growth, as the program continues to serve millions nationally.

Note: HCPCS codes are provided for informational purposes within the category. Category totals and rankings reflect standardized groupings, not individual codes.

Details in this story were sourced from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Access the source data here.