Clayton Medicaid spending on ambulance, transport services rises 9.5% to $15,900 in 2024

Clayton Medicaid providers billed $15,900 for services under the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category in 2024, recent data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This was up 9.5% from 2023, when similar service claims reached $14,517.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program administered by states and financed in partnership by federal and state governments. It serves low-income people and families, seniors, children and individuals with disabilities, making it a key component of the U.S. health care system.

With Medicaid funded by taxpayer dollars, local billing fluctuations highlight how public health care funds are distributed within a community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” category encompasses Medicaid-billed services grouped by care type, following standardized HCPCS and CPT code classifications. For this report, each billing code was assigned to a single service group using consistent code prefixes and number ranges to avoid double counting and maintain accurate rankings over time.

Despite overall increases across several Medicaid service categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the second highest by total Medicaid payment in Clayton in 2024.

Statewide in Alabama, this category ranked sixth in total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Across the five years prior to 2024, Medicaid payments linked to Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Clayton rose by $11,101, or 231.3%. Certain periods saw spending rise faster, with pronounced year-over-year jumps in 2021 and 2022.

Although spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies covered locations throughout the city, payments were focused within a small set of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 36016 led with $15,899 in Medicaid payments for this category. That ZIP alone made up 100% of ambulance category Medicaid spending in Clayton during the year.

Within this category, just a few individual billing codes received the majority of Medicaid payments.

Comparatively, Medicaid payments in this category grew by 9.5% between 2024 and 2023 in Clayton, whereas all Medicaid claim categories for the city saw a 57.8% fluctuation over the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid outlays totaled about $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023, accounting for roughly 18% of total national health expenses— a sharp rise from $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The growth equals an increase of around 40% over several years, largely propelled by expanded enrollment and increased usage during and after the pandemic period.

Budget legislation introduced during the Trump administration included several major proposals decreasing federal Medicaid contributions and revising the structure of the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is estimated to trim over $1 trillion from federal Medicaid spending over the next 10 years and adds requirements such as work mandates and greater cost-sharing, which could make coverage or funding harder to get for some recipients. These changes are expected to move more financial responsibility to states and limit the increase of federal funding, even as the program continues to cover tens of 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.