Vestal Medicaid spending on transport services reaches $187,022 in 2024

Vestal Medicaid providers reported $187,022 in billings for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category in 2024, according to data available from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This reflects a 5.3% rise over 2023, when providers submitted $177,685 in claims for the same service category.

Medicaid is a government health insurance program overseen by states and financed in partnership between federal and state governments. It serves low-income people and families, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities, ranking among the largest sections of the U.S. health system.

As Medicaid payments rely on taxpayer funding, any change in local billing highlights how public health resources are deployed within communities.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” category identifies Medicaid-billed services grouped by care type, utilizing regulated HCPCS and CPT code clusters. For this report, billing codes fell into specific service categories through consistent code prefixes and ranges, allowing comparison of similar services while avoiding duplicate counts and ensuring rankings’ accuracy over time.

Though Medicaid spending rose for multiple service groups, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked as the fifth-highest by total Medicaid payments among Vestal categories in 2024.

At the state level, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked eighth by Medicaid payments in New York during 2024.

From the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments billable to the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category in Vestal increased by $43,786, up 30.6%. Periods of faster growth were especially notable in 2020 and 2021.

Although payments for this category were found throughout Vestal, billing was largely concentrated. In 2024, ZIP code 13850 accounted for $187,021 in Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies—making up 100% of Vestal’s total for this service during the year.

Within the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies field, only a handful of billing codes made up most of the Medicaid payments.

Compared with the preceding year, Medicaid spending for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category in Vestal climbed 5.3% between 2024 and 2023, while total Medicaid claim categories citywide jumped 20.7% over the same time period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, joint federal and state Medicaid outlays reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up about 18% of overall national health spending. This represented a significant growth from $613.5 billion in 2019, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic period.

This surge reflects an estimated 40% increase in a few years, primarily from higher enrollment and utilization during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budgets under the Trump administration have featured major plans aimed at reducing federal Medicaid support and modifying program structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to decrease federal Medicaid allocations by over $1 trillion over 10 years. It also introduces measures such as work requirements and greater cost-sharing, expected to reduce both Medicaid coverage and funding for some beneficiaries, shifting more costs to states while checking federal growth even as tens of millions continue relying on Medicaid.

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.