V5008 Medicaid reimbursement rate by state (2026)

• Order. States are listed from the highest published rate to the lowest. No single unit is shared by 8 or more states for V5008, so the order is by published amount and is not a like-for-like rank.
• Medicaid rate. The most the state's fee-for-service program pays for one unit, as published. 9 of the 19 states list more than one rate for V5008, by modifier, provider type or setting; the table shows the one that matches the provider level and setting used across states, without add-ons.
• Unit. None of the 19 schedules prints a separate unit for V5008, so each amount is a flat payment for one service as the code defines it.
• Per hour. V5008 is not billed in time units in these states, so no hourly figure is shown.
• Managed-care plans. The rule the state sets for its plans on this rate. What each rule means is explained below.
• % of Medicare. No Medicare physician fee schedule amount is on file for V5008, so there is no percentage.
• Source and date. Each Source link opens the state's own document; “since” is the date the rate took effect.

Published rates for V5008 run from $7.72 in Minnesota to $60.00 in District of Columbia, a 7.8x gap in the same unit. Half the states pay more than the median of $17.02 and half pay less. The usual reasons for a spread like this in vision & hearing rates:

• Adult vision and hearing benefits are optional for states, so coverage, limits and fees vary widely.
• Some states buy eyeglasses through a single contracted laboratory, which changes what a provider is paid for the materials.
• Hearing aids and some lenses are priced at invoice or acquisition cost in some states and at a fixed fee in others.

Timing matters too. 4 states set the current rate for V5008 in 2026 or later, while 7 states still pay a rate that took effect in 2022 or earlier. A state that has not updated its rate in years will drift down the ranking as others raise theirs.

Most Medicaid members are in managed-care plans, and plans don't publish their provider fee schedules. For V5008, the public signal is the rule each state sets for its plans, recorded on each rate above.

In 4 states, the published rate binds plans: a floor, a pass-through or a state-set rate. In 7 states, plans negotiate and the published rate is a benchmark or out-of-network default. In 2 states, the service is paid outside the plans or through a state-directed payment. The rule for the remaining 6 states is not classified yet.

• Plans negotiate; the published rate applies out of network (7 states). In-network rates can be above or below the published rate. The published rate is the benchmark both sides know, and the fallback if no contract is signed.
• Plans must pay at least the published rate (4 states). The published rate is your floor. Negotiate up from it, and if a plan pays less, the contract provision is the basis for a payment dispute.
• Paid by the state, outside the plans (2 states). Bill the state's Medicaid program, not the plan, at the published rate. There is no plan contract to negotiate for this service.

Plan-negotiated rates are never estimated here. To see the rule and its citation for a particular state, open that state's managed-care page, for example District of Columbia managed care.

V5008 is a HCPCS Level II vision, hearing and speech code in the vision & hearing line, billed mostly by optometrists, opticians, audiologists and hearing aid dispensers. V codes cover lenses, frames, prosthetic eyes, hearing aids and related services, generally paid per item and per side.

Vision and hearing materials are billed per item, per lens or per device, and hearing aids per ear (monaural or binaural).

Before billing, confirm the rate, unit and any modifier with the state's current schedule or the plan: the amounts here are as published, not a guarantee of payment.