Decatur Medicaid outlays for ambulance and transport services total $523,448 in 2024

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database show that Medicaid providers in Decatur billed $523,448 for services under the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies classification in 2024. This amount demonstrates a 3.4% rise compared with 2023, when billings for these services reached $506,138.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program administered by states and financed cooperatively by federal and state governments. Covering low-income individuals, families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, it is a major component of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, shifts in local claim amounts reflect how health care funding is distributed within the community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” group encompasses a range of Medicaid-billed services as defined by specific HCPCS and CPT code clusters. For this review, codes were mapped to a single category using uniform code ranges and prefixes, enabling accurate group analysis, reducing duplicate counts, and maintaining consistent service category rankings.

While several Medicaid service categories in Decatur experienced spending increases, the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category led in total Medicaid payments in 2024.

On a state level, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies placed eighth among Medicaid payment categories in Mississippi in 2024.

Across the five-year span leading up to 2024, Medicaid payments associated with the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category in Decatur were up by $523,448, reflecting a 0% overall increase. Certain intervals saw heightened spending growth, particularly in 2023 and 2022.

Even though payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies were made throughout Decatur, the majority was routed to a small cluster of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 39327 alone accounted for $523,448 of Medicaid payments for this category, comprising 100% of such payments citywide.

Within the category, Medicaid expenditures were also focused mainly on a select set of billing codes.

When comparing local changes, Medicaid spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies saw a 3.4% uptick from 2023 to 2024, compared to a 1.2% change across all Medicaid categories locally during the same window.

Reported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, overall federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This represented nearly 18% of total U.S. health outlays, a significant rise from around $613.5 billion in 2019.

This increase reflects approximately 40% growth in just a few years, largely due to expanded enrollment and higher service usage during and after the pandemic period.

Recent federal budget measures introduced under the Trump administration include proposals to curtail federal Medicaid funding and revise program operations. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is anticipated to cut federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the ensuing decade. The law introduces work requirements and additional cost-sharing that could impact coverage and funding levels for certain beneficiaries, potentially shifting greater fiscal responsibility to the states as overall Medicaid enrollment continues to span tens of millions.

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.