Ashland sees 10.7% jump in Medicaid spending on ambulance and transport services in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Ashland billed a total of $240,317 for services under the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This figure marks a 10.7% rise from 2023, when $217,149 was billed for the same services.

Medicaid is a state-administered public insurance program funded jointly by state and federal governments. The program covers low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a core component of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, fluctuations in local billing amounts help illustrate how community health care funds are distributed.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” classification includes various Medicaid-billed services, determined by care type and based on standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this report, each billing code was assigned to a single category using consistent code prefixes and number ranges, enabling related services to be tracked together while avoiding overlap and maintaining accurate rankings across years.

Spending across multiple Medicaid service categories increased, with Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked third in Ashland in terms of total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Statewide in Oregon, this category placed fifth in total Medicaid payments during 2024.

Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Ashland grew by $140,977, or 141.9%, over the five years ending in 2024. Spending increases were especially marked in certain years, with significant year-over-year growth noted in 2021 and 2022.

Although payments for this category were allocated throughout Ashland, most were concentrated within a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 97520 accounted for $240,316 in Medicaid payments in this category, making up 100% of Ashland’s total for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies that year.

Within this category, Medicaid reimbursement was focused among a limited range of billing codes.

To compare, while Medicaid payments for this service group in Ashland increased 10.7% between 2024 and 2023, the overall change for all Medicaid claim categories in the city was 1.6% in the same timeframe.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending combined reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, comprising nearly 18% of national health expenditures, substantially higher than the approximately $613.5 billion spent in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This represents about a 40% gain in just a few years, primarily driven by higher enrollment and increased use during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws passed under the Trump administration included major proposals to scale back federal Medicaid funding and modify the program’s structure. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to cut more than $1 trillion in federal Medicaid support over the next decade. It also introduces work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could lessen coverage and funding for certain recipients. These reforms are projected to shift financial responsibility to states and limit future federal Medicaid growth, even as the program continues covering tens of millions of Americans.

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.