Sumner Medicaid dental payments up 27.3% in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Sumner billed $39,321 for services in the Dental Services category, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This was a 27.3% jump from 2023, when billings for these services totaled $30,898.

Medicaid, a state-administered health insurance program funded by both federal and state governments, serves low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It is a major component of the U.S. health care system.

Because Medicaid dollars are taxpayer-funded, shifts in local billing signal how public health care funds are allocated throughout a community.

The Dental Services category groups together a range of services billed to Medicaid based on the nature of care provided and follows standardized HCPCS and CPT coding. For this report, each billing code was placed into one service category according to consistent prefixes and numeric parameters, which enabled related services to be grouped and compared accurately over time.

Dental Services ranked third among all Medicaid payment categories in Sumner in 2024 as overall spending increased across multiple service types.

At the state level, Dental Services ranked ninth by Medicaid payment totals in Washington for 2024.

Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid payments for Dental Services in Sumner rose by $12,565, or 47%. The rate of spending accelerated at certain points, with especially strong year-on-year growth in 2023 and 2022.

Though Dental Services Medicaid spending was spread across Sumner, payments were concentrated within just a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 98390 accounted for the full $39,321 in payments. This ZIP code made up 100% of Dental Services Medicaid payments for Sumner that year.

Within Dental Services, a small number of billing codes accounted for the majority of Medicaid payments.

Compared to all Medicaid claims in the area, Dental Services payments in Sumner increased 27.3% from 2023 to 2024, while aggregate Medicaid payments across all claim categories grew by 8.3% in the same period.

Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows combined federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, representing approximately 18% of total national health expenditures, up from about $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase reflects roughly 40% growth in just several years, mainly due to expanded enrollment and greater health care utilization throughout and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures signed under the Trump administration include several major proposals to scale back federal Medicaid funding and alter program structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid outlays by over $1 trillion over 10 years, introducing policies such as work requirements and more cost-sharing, which may constrain coverage and funding for some recipients. These developments are projected to place greater financial responsibility on states and curtail federal growth, while the program continues to serve 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.