Fort Stockton Medicaid providers submitted $84,335 in claims for the Dental Services category in 2024, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending data shows. This represents a 3.7% uptick from 2023, when Dental Services claims reached $81,342.
Medicaid, a state-administered and federally and state-funded public health insurance program, covers eligible low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It remains one of the major components of the U.S. health care landscape. More details are available at the Commonwealth Fund.
Because taxpayer funds contribute to Medicaid payments, shifts in local billing volumes help illustrate how public health care spending is distributed within communities.
The “Dental Services” section refers to Medicaid-billed services grouped by type of care, following designated HCPCS and CPT code ranges. For this review, each code was assigned to one service grouping using code prefixes and numerical ranges, ensuring related service types were grouped consistently, preventing duplicates, and enabling accurate year-to-year comparisons.
While various categories experienced growth in Medicaid spending, Dental Services ranked as the second largest in Fort Stockton by total Medicaid payments in 2024.
At the state level, Dental Services ranked seventh in Texas for total Medicaid payments during 2024.
From 2019 through 2024, Medicaid payments in Fort Stockton’s Dental Services category increased by $80,985—or 2417.1%. Growth was particularly strong during certain spans, with notable one-year rises documented in both 2021 and 2022.
Dental Services Medicaid spending in Fort Stockton, while distributed, was concentrated within key ZIP codes during 2024. The 79735 ZIP code accounted for $84,335, totaling 100% of the city’s Medicaid Dental Services payments that year.
Additionally, individual billing codes within the Dental Services category drew a concentrated share of Medicaid payments.
For perspective, Dental Services Medicaid payments in Fort Stockton grew 3.7% between 2023 and 2024. By comparison, payments across all Medicaid categories in the city rose 41.8% during the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined state and federal Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023. This sum represented around 18% of all U.S. health expenditures and had increased sharply from the 2019 total of roughly $613.5 billion, before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rise reflects about 40% growth over several years, a trend largely driven by expanded enrollment and increased use of services both during and after the pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures passed under the Trump administration have proposed deep cuts to federal Medicaid allocations and significant changes to its structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid funding by over $1 trillion in the next ten years and to introduce policies, such as work requirements and higher cost-sharing. These provisions may lower coverage and federal contributions for some recipients, potentially shifting greater costs to state budgets while the program continues to support tens of millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $3,350 | – |
| 2021 | $67,941 | 1927.8% |
| 2022 | $74,821 | 10.1% |
| 2023 | $81,341 | 8.7% |
| 2024 | $84,335 | 3.7% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $676,183 | 81.8% |
| 2 | Dental Services | $84,335 | 10.2% |
| 3 | Evaluation and Management | $42,156 | 5.1% |
| 4 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $6,111 | 0.7% |
| 5 | Vision Services | $5,727 | 0.7% |
| 6 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $4,281 | 0.5% |
| 7 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $3,982 | 0.5% |
| 8 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $3,252 | 0.4% |
| 9 | Procedures / Professional Services | $419 | 0.1% |
| 10 | Surgery | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0145 | Oral evaluation, pt < 3yrs | $25,757 | 11 |
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $20,130 | 12 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $11,492 | 12 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $9,225 | 12 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $8,129 | 11 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $8,097 | 12 |
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $883 | 2 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $619 | 2 |
| D0603 | Caries risk assess high risk | $0 | 12 |
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.
