Lihue Medicaid spending on non-oral drug services jumps 199.9%, reaches $1.34 million in 2024

Lihue Medicaid providers billed $1,343,909 for services in the Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method category in 2024, based on figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. That amount reflects a 199.9% rise from 2023, when claims for those services totaled $448,150.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program operated by the states with joint funding from federal and state governments. The program covers low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a key component of the U.S. health care system. More details are available from the Commonwealth Fund.

Since Medicaid spending relies on taxpayer funding, shifts in local billing levels highlight how public health care dollars are distributed in a given community.

The Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method category encompasses a range of Medicaid-billed services defined by care type, grouped according to standardized HCPCS and CPT code classifications. Each billing code was assigned to one service category for this analysis, using uniform code prefixes and numeric ranges to facilitate consistent tracking and to prevent double counting or misranking over time.

Spending for Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method represented the second-highest Medicaid payments by category in Lihue during 2024, even as Medicaid expenditures rose across multiple service groups.

Statewide, Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method stood as the third-largest category by Medicaid payments in Hawaii for 2024.

Over the five years before 2024, Medicaid payments for Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method services in Lihue increased $1,161,213, or 635.6%. Growth was particularly sharp during certain years, with significant gains noted in both 2022 and 2020.

Although these Medicaid payments were distributed throughout Lihue, most were concentrated in a limited number of ZIP codes. The 96766 ZIP code saw the highest total, with all $1,343,909 in related Medicaid payments in 2024. This single ZIP code accounted for 100% of payments tied to this category during the year.

Within the Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method category, a small number of individual billing codes accounted for most Medicaid payments.

Comparatively, Medicaid payments for this category in Lihue increased 199.9% from 2023 to 2024, whereas all Medicaid claims in the city rose by 20.2% over that same period.

Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show that total federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023. This represented roughly 18% of national health expenditures, a significant jump from $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This approximate 40% increase over a few years was largely driven by more enrollment and higher service use during and after the pandemic.

Federal budget legislation enacted during the Trump administration has included major proposals to cut federal Medicaid support and restructure the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which became law in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid expenditures by over $1 trillion over the next decade. The legislation introduces measures like work requirements and increased cost-sharing that may limit benefits and funding for some groups, shifting more expenses to states despite the program’s continued reach to tens of millions.

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.