Medicaid spending on ambulance and transport services jumps 54.7% in Brownsville in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Brownsville billed $461,944 for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, based on information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This amount reflects a 54.7% rise over the 2023 total of $298,655 billed for the same service category.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program administered at the state level and financed by both federal and state governments, offers coverage to low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It is a significant part of the U.S. health care system.

Because taxpayer funds support Medicaid payments, changes in local claim levels reveal how public health resources are distributed within a community.

The Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category covers a set of Medicaid-billed services, identified by the care provided using standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. The analysis organized each code into a single service category through uniform code prefixes and ranges to group similar services together, avoid duplicate counting, and retain accurate service rankings throughout the reviewed period.

Although spending grew across several Medicaid service categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the highest by total Medicaid payment in Brownsville in 2024.

Statewide in Pennsylvania, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked sixth in total Medicaid spending in 2024.

During the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments for this category in Brownsville grew by $439,914, an increase of 1996.9%. Certain years, including 2021 and 2023, saw marked year-to-year jumps in spending.

Though Medicaid spending in this category occurred across different locations in Brownsville, the majority of payments were concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 15417 registered $461,944 in Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, making up 100% of such payments within Brownsville for the year.

Additionally, Medicaid payments in this category were dominated by a small subset of specific billing codes.

Comparatively, the 54.7% uptick in Brownsville from 2023 to 2024 surpassed the 47.6% change noted across all Medicaid claim categories in the city during the corresponding period.

Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows that total federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, representing around 18% of total national health expenditures, up from about $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This represents approximately 40% growth in just a few years, fueled by more enrollees and higher service use during and following the pandemic.

Federal budget legislation under the Trump administration introduced significant proposals to decrease federal Medicaid spending and adjust the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is expected to curb federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion in the next decade. The law also introduces measures such as work requirements and more cost-sharing, potentially limiting funding or coverage for some recipients. These policy changes may shift additional costs to the states and constrict federal Medicaid growth, even as the program continues serving tens of millions nationwide.

Note: HCPCS codes are included for reference within the category. Category totals and rankings in this story are based on service groupings rather than individual billing codes.

Information for this article comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Source data is available here.