Arco Medicaid payments for ambulance and transport services increase to $52,895 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Arco billed a total of $52,895 for services under the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represented a 13.3% uptick from 2023, when $46,674 was claimed for the same service type.

Medicaid is a state-administered public health insurance program that receives joint funding from both federal and state governments. It provides coverage for low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it one of the main pillars of the U.S. health care system.

As Medicaid expenses are funded by taxpayers, shifts in local billing levels reflect how public health dollars are distributed within a community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” group includes a range of Medicaid-billed services identified by specific care provided, categorized by standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. For this analysis, all billing codes were assigned to one service category using consistent code prefixes and number ranges, enabling related services to be reviewed collectively without double counting and maintaining accurate rankings over time.

Medicaid spending grew across various service groups; in 2024, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the second-largest category for Medicaid payments in Arco.

Statewide, this category ranked eighth in Idaho by total Medicaid spending in 2024.

Over the five years before 2024, Medicaid spending attributed to Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Arco grew by $52,895, or 0%. Some periods saw accelerated spending growth, with noticeable year-over-year increases seen in 2023 and 2022.

Although payments for these services were spread citywide, they were heavily concentrated in just a few ZIP codes. For 2024, the highest Medicaid payments associated with Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies were reported in ZIP code 83213, totaling $52,895. Altogether, the top 1 ZIP codes made up 100% of the Medicaid payments in this service category for Arco that year.

Within the category itself, Medicaid disbursements were focused on a relatively small group of individual billing codes.

Looking at growth rates, Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Arco climbed 13.3% between 2024 and 2023, compared to a 20.5% shift for all Medicaid claim categories in Arco across the same span.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that combined state and federal Medicaid expenditures reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This accounted for nearly 18% of U.S. health spending, up sharply from about $613.5 billion in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This rise equates to about 40% growth in just a few years, driven primarily by increasing enrollment and higher use during and following the pandemic period.

Recent federal budgets enacted under the Trump administration have featured notable proposals to cut federal Medicaid support and to restructure the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over the next decade and introduces policies such as work mandates and greater cost-sharing, potentially reducing funding and eligibility for some beneficiaries. These changes are anticipated to shift additional financial responsibility to states, limiting federal Medicaid growth while the program continues to cover tens of millions of Americans.

Note: HCPCS codes are provided for category context. The article ranks and totals categories based on standardized groupings, not individual billing codes.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Access source data here.