Medicaid spending on pathology and lab procedures jumps 200% in West Union for 2024

West Union Medicaid providers billed $84 for services in the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category in 2024, as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represents a 200% rise over 2023, when providers billed $28 for the same services.

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

Since Medicaid funding originates from taxpayers, fluctuations in local billing levels highlight how public health care resources are distributed throughout a community.

The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” grouping includes a set of Medicaid-billed services defined by care type, identified through standard HCPCS and CPT code groupings. This analysis assigned each billing code to a specific service category using uniform code prefixes and number ranges, enabling related services to be reviewed together while preventing duplicate counts or inaccurate category rankings across time.

While Medicaid expenditures increased among several service categories, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures placed fifth for total Medicaid payments in West Union for 2024.

Statewide, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures also ranked fifth in West Virginia by total Medicaid payments in 2024.

During the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in West Union grew by $84, or 0%. Certain periods saw faster growth, including substantial increases year over year in both 2022 and 2022.

Spending for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures occurred citywide but was mainly concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 26456 accounted for $83 in Medicaid payments in this category. The 1 top ZIP code represented 99.5% of Medicaid payments for this service in West Union in 2024.

Medicaid billing within the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category focused on a small set of individual codes.

Comparatively, Medicaid payments related to Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in West Union increased 200% from 2023 to 2024, versus a 9.1% increase across all Medicaid claim categories citywide during the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid expenditures totaled approximately $871.7 billion for fiscal 2023, making up about 18% of all U.S. health spending, up considerably from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This growth marks about a 40% increase within a few years, primarily driven by broader enrollment and higher service use during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget actions during the Trump administration have included major proposals to scale back federal Medicaid dollars and change the program structure. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to cut more than $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending over 10 years and introduces measures like work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which may reduce funding and coverage for certain enrollees. These policies are expected to push more funding responsibility to states and limit increases in federal support, though the program still serves 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.