Providers in Cary submitted claims totaling $1,007,428 for Medicaid-billed services in the Dental Services category for 2024, using information provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This figure reflects a 32.8% increase over the previous year, when $758,872 was billed for the same category.
As a state-administered insurance program funded jointly by both state and federal governments, Medicaid offers coverage to low-income people and households, seniors, children and persons with disabilities, making it one of the largest components of U.S. public health care.
Since Medicaid is financed with taxpayer money, changes in billing from area providers reflect how health care dollars are distributed within the community.
The “Dental Services” designation groups Medicaid-billed dental care based on codes classified under HCPCS and CPT standards. For the purposes of this report, all billing codes were assigned to a single category according to established code ranges and prefixes, grouping related services to support consistent analysis, avoid duplicate counting, and maintain accurate historical rankings.
While Medicaid expenditures increased in several service groupings, Dental Services was the fifth-highest service by Medicaid payments in Cary for 2024.
Statewide in North Carolina, Dental Services placed ninth overall in terms of Medicaid spending for 2024.
From 2019 through 2024, Medicaid costs for Dental Services in Cary rose by $484,438, or 92.6%. The rate of spending increased more rapidly in select years, with significant year-over-year gains occurring in 2021 and 2023.
Although dental service spending was recorded in multiple parts of the city, payments were primarily located in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 27518 led with $546,343, followed by 27513 with $308,423, and 27519 with $152,661. Together, the leading 3 ZIP codes represented 100% of Cary’s Medicaid spending for Dental Services for that year.
Medicaid dental spending in Cary was also concentrated within a relatively small group of billing codes falling under the Dental Services designation.
By contrast, the 32.8% year-over-year increase for Dental Services claims outpaced the 4.6% shift seen across all Medicaid service types in Cary over the same period.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data show combined federal and state Medicaid spending reached around $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up roughly 18% of national health spending, a significant rise from the roughly $613.5 billion recorded in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This growth reflects an increase of about 40% within a few years, primarily due to expanded program enrollment and greater claim volume during and following the pandemic period.
Recent federal budget measures signed during the Trump administration have included major proposals cutting federal Medicaid funding and changing the structure of the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to cut federal Medicaid payments by over $1 trillion over the next ten years, adding work requirements and greater cost-sharing that could impact beneficiary coverage and funding. States are expected to bear more responsibility and face constraints on Medicaid program growth, even as Medicaid remains central for tens of millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $522,990 | -5.3% |
| 2021 | $737,087 | 40.9% |
| 2022 | $671,732 | -8.9% |
| 2023 | $758,872 | 13% |
| 2024 | $1,007,428 | 32.8% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $12,210,282 | 43.2% |
| 2 | Evaluation and Management | $7,652,165 | 27.1% |
| 3 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $2,951,840 | 10.4% |
| 4 | Durable Medical Equipment | $1,609,932 | 5.7% |
| 5 | Dental Services | $1,007,428 | 3.6% |
| 6 | Procedures / Professional Services | $678,116 | 2.4% |
| 7 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $669,658 | 2.4% |
| 8 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $429,857 | 1.5% |
| 9 | Enteral and Parenteral Therapy | $372,846 | 1.3% |
| 10 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $282,945 | 1% |
| 11 | Surgery | $215,437 | 0.8% |
| 12 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $137,732 | 0.5% |
| 13 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $19,990 | 0.1% |
| 14 | Anesthesia | $8,542 | <0.1% |
| 15 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $5,177 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Radiology Procedures | $5,058 | <0.1% |
| 17 | Orthotic Procedures and services | $3,258 | <0.1% |
| 18 | Prosthetic Procedures | $943 | <0.1% |
| 19 | Temporary Codes | $750 | <0.1% |
| 20 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $705 | <0.1% |
| 21 | Miscellaneous Medical Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $268,665 | 212 |
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $156,926 | 113 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $95,684 | 80 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $90,320 | 163 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $83,813 | 128 |
| D0140 | Limit oral eval problm focus | $71,794 | 71 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $58,083 | 78 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $51,039 | 109 |
| D0160 | Extensv oral eval prob focus | $49,377 | 24 |
| D0210 | Intraor comprehensive series | $25,505 | 20 |
| D0340 | 2d cephalometric image | $18,299 | 11 |
| D0470 | Diagnostic casts | $14,984 | 11 |
| D0240 | Intraoral occlusal film | $12,783 | 19 |
| D0145 | Oral evaluation, pt < 3yrs | $10,148 | 20 |
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.
