Medicaid spending for alcohol and drug abuse treatment in Defuniak Springs rose to $12,224 in 2024

Medicaid providers in Defuniak Springs billed $12,224 for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment services in 2024, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This amount was up 146.1% from 2023, when providers submitted $4,967 in claims for these services.

Medicaid is a state-run public health insurance program funded jointly by federal and state governments. The program covers low-income people, families, children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities, making it a major component of the U.S. health care system.

Because Medicaid is taxpayer-funded, varying billing amounts in different communities reflect how public health funds are distributed locally.

The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment group consists of Medicaid-billed services defined by care type, based on standardized HCPCS and CPT coding. In this analysis, billing codes were grouped into a single category using set code prefixes and numeric ranges to examine related services while preventing counting the same service twice and maintaining accurate long-term rankings.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the fifth largest Medicaid spending category in Defuniak Springs in 2024, despite an overall increase in multiple categories.

Statewide in Florida, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment was the fourth largest Medicaid category by total spending in 2024.

In the five years through 2024, Medicaid spending connected to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment in Defuniak Springs increased $426,501, or 97.2%. The pace of growth was higher during some years, including significant increases in both 2021 and 2022.

Although Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment billing appeared citywide, spending was focused in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 32433 accounted for the entire $12,224 paid out in this category. Thus, the top ZIP code comprised 100% of Medicaid’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment spending in Defuniak Springs in 2024.

Medicaid payments in the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment group were also especially concentrated among limited individual billing codes.

Comparatively, payments in this treatment category rose by 146.1% from 2023 to 2024, whereas all Medicaid categories combined in the city saw a 56.7% increase in the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid expenditures totaled about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, accounting for roughly 18% of U.S. health care spending, an increase from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This change represents about 40% growth in just several years, prompted mainly by expanded enrollment and higher use of services during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget legislation under the Trump administration included proposals to cut federal Medicaid funding and alter its structure. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over 10 years and introduces provisions such as work requirements and increased cost-sharing, which could decrease coverage and support for certain recipients. States are likely to absorb more program costs and face tighter limits on federal support, though Medicaid continues to serve millions of Americans.

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.