Ambulance and transport Medicaid claims in Charleston up 6.9% in 2024

In 2024, Charleston Medicaid providers billed $1,383,365 for services categorized as Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This was a 6.9% rise from 2023, when $1,293,984 in claims were reported for the same service group.

Medicaid is a government health insurance program funded by both state and federal governments that covers low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a major portion of the U.S. health care landscape.

Because Medicaid is taxpayer funded, fluctuations in local billing levels reveal how public health care resources are distributed in a community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” category includes a range of Medicaid services defined by care type, organized by standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. Each billing code was matched to a single service category using code prefixes and number ranges to ensure related services were reviewed together while avoiding double counting and allowing for accurate comparisons over time.

Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies led all service categories in Charleston by Medicaid payment total in 2024, one of several categories experiencing increased spending.

Statewide in Illinois, the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category finished as the second-highest by Medicaid payment total for 2024.

Looking over the five years through 2024, Charleston saw Medicaid spending in the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies group climb by $616,533—or 80.4%. There were periods of faster growth, with sharp increases noted in 2022 and 2020.

Spending in this category was not evenly distributed but instead concentrated within specific ZIP codes. In 2024, the largest share of Medicaid payments went to ZIP code 61920, totaling $1,383,365. This single ZIP code represented 100% of Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Charleston for the year.

Medicaid reimbursements within this category were also focused on a select group of billing codes.

Comparing 2024 with 2023, Medicaid payments for this service group increased by 6.9% in Charleston. Across all Medicaid claim types in the city, the change for the same period was 11.7%.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid spending from both federal and state sources reached roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, comprising about 18% of all national health expenditures, rising from about $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The growth represents an increase of approximately 40% over several years, driven primarily by higher enrollment and utilization during and after the pandemic era.

Federal budget actions passed while Donald Trump was president included notable proposals to cut federal Medicaid funding and revise the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid expenditures by over $1 trillion in the coming decade and introduce requirements such as work obligations and additional cost-sharing that could limit coverage and shift more costs to states, reducing growth in federal contributions even as Medicaid continues to cover millions 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.