Wellington sees 118.8% rise in Medicaid payments for dental services in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Wellington billed $162,095 for Dental Services, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represented a 118.8% increase over 2023, when providers billed $74,097 for the same services.

Medicaid operates as a public health insurance option managed by states and financed through a partnership between federal and state governments. The program serves low-income people and families, senior citizens, children, and individuals with disabilities. It remains a key component of the nation’s health care landscape.

As Medicaid is taxpayer funded, adjustments in billing volumes at the local level help illustrate how public health resources are distributed throughout communities.

The “Dental Services” classification groups together Medicaid-billed care types identified by standard HCPCS and CPT code segments. For this analysis, each billing code was linked to a single service type using unified code ranges and prefixes to enable related services to be grouped for trend analysis, while avoiding double counting and maintaining accurate rankings.

While Medicaid expenditures rose for several types of services, Dental Services saw more Medicaid dollars billed than any other category in Wellington in 2024.

Statewide in Colorado, Dental Services placed seventh in total Medicaid payments during 2024.

Looking at the five years prior to 2024, total Medicaid payments for Dental Services in Wellington climbed by $136,476, an increase of 532.7%. Spending gains accelerated in specific years, especially with notable year-over-year jumps tracked in 2022 and 2023.

Dental Services payments in Wellington in 2024, although spread across various areas, were primarily concentrated in a small number of ZIP codes. The 80549 ZIP code, accounting for $162,095 in claims, represented 100% of all Medicaid Dental Services payments for the city during the year.

Within Dental Services, the majority of Medicaid payments centered around a select number of billing codes.

To provide context, from 2023 to 2024, Medicaid payments for Dental Services in Wellington grew by 118.8%, compared to a 4.9% overall change in Medicaid claims citywide for the same time span.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data show joint federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached about $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023. This made up almost 18% of total U.S. health spending—an increase from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This growth is estimated to be nearly 40% over a span of a few years, largely fueled by higher enrollment and increased usage of services during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget actions under the Trump administration have brought sizable proposals aimed at cutting federal Medicaid funds and altering its framework. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is forecast to trim over $1 trillion from federal Medicaid over the coming decade. It adds policies including work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could lessen both funding and coverage for some Medicaid participants. States are expected to shoulder more program costs under these changes, even as federal support is curtailed and millions use Medicaid 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.