Terra Alta Medicaid outlays for ambulance and transport services rise to $52,249 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Terra Alta billed $52,249 for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This total represents a 16.5% rise compared with 2023, when claims for these services amounted to $44,860.

Medicaid, a public health insurance system operated by individual states and jointly funded by federal and state governments, serves low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a major component of the nation’s health care framework.

Because Medicaid spending is sourced from taxpayer funds, fluctuations in billing levels offer insight into how community health care resources are distributed.

The Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies classification includes Medicaid-billed care defined by specific service types, based on standardized HCPCS and CPT code groups. For this review, every billing code was placed into a single service category using established code prefixes and ranges, allowing for focused analysis of related services and accurate historical comparisons.

Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the leading category by Medicaid spending in Terra Alta for 2024, exceeding total outlays in other service areas.

Across West Virginia, this category ranked as the seventh-highest by Medicaid expenditures statewide during 2024.

Looking at the five-year period leading up to 2024, Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Terra Alta grew by $43,637, an increase of 506.7%. Notably, spending gains accelerated in selected years, especially in 2021 and 2022.

Though overall spending was citywide, the majority of payments were traced to a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 26764 accounted for $52,248 in Medicaid expenditures for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies—representing 100% of such payments in Terra Alta that year.

Within this service category, Medicaid payments were largely focused on a few specific billing codes.

For perspective, Medicaid payments in Terra Alta related to Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies increased 16.5% from 2023 to 2024, while total Medicaid claims in the city grew by 15.4% over the same time span.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid outlays reached approximately $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023—roughly 18% of total national health expenditures—and increased sharply from the $613.5 billion figure in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This jump represents about 40% overall growth in just several years, primarily driven by higher enrollment and greater service use during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures enacted during the Trump administration have included major plans to scale back federal Medicaid contributions and reconfigure the program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is expected to cut federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over ten years, and introduces new requirements such as work mandates and higher cost-sharing, potentially reducing benefits and funds for some recipients. These updates will likely place greater financial responsibility on states and could restrict the future growth of federal support, even as Medicaid continues to cover 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.