Medicaid dental service reimbursements jump 125.3% in Helper in 2024

Helper’s Medicaid providers reported $6,426 in charges for services in the Dental Services category during 2024, as indicated by data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This was 125.3% higher compared to 2023, when claims for the same service totaled $2,852.

Medicaid is a public health insurance initiative administered by states and funded collectively by federal and state governments. It provides coverage for low-income families and individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, and represents one of the largest components of the U.S. health care landscape.

Shifts in local Medicaid billing reflect changes in how taxpayer-funded health resources are distributed within communities.

The “Dental Services” classification includes various services covered under Medicaid, identified by standardized HCPCS and CPT code clusters. For this report, each billing code was allocated to a single service group, using specially defined code prefixes and number intervals, which allows related procedures to be grouped together without overlap and maintains accurate long-term comparisons.

While Medicaid expenses climbed across multiple categories, Dental Services was the second largest by total Medicaid payments in Helper in 2024.

Within Utah as a whole, Dental Services placed ninth by total Medicaid payments in 2024.

During the five years before 2024, Medicaid reimbursements for Dental Services in Helper increased by $6,426, holding steady at 0%. The pace of spending rose in certain intervals, particularly with notable year-over-year jumps in 2023 and 2022.

Even though payments for Dental Services went to providers throughout Helper, most were concentrated in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 84526 saw the highest Medicaid Dental Services payments, collecting a total of $6,425. This was 100% of Helper’s Medicaid Dental Services reimbursements for the year.

A small selection of Medicaid billing codes accounted for the bulk of Dental Services payments.

From 2023 to 2024, Helper’s Medicaid Dental Services reimbursement rose 125.3%, compared to a 46% change across all claims in the city for that period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined state and federal Medicaid spending reached approximately $871.7 billion during fiscal year 2023, representing about 18% of all U.S. health expenditures, and up significantly from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increases amounts to close to 40% growth within several years and has been driven mostly by expanded enrollment and higher utilization since the onset of the pandemic.

Recent federal budget resolutions under the Trump administration have introduced major proposals to decrease Medicaid funding and overhaul the program. One example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which became law in 2025, is estimated to cut more than $1 trillion from federal Medicaid spending over the next 10 years and creates changes such as work requirements and higher cost-sharing that may result in lower coverage and reduced support for some enrollees. These adjustments are projected to shift more fiscal responsibility to states and limit federal contributions, even as Medicaid remains a source of health coverage for tens of millions of people.

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.