Gloucester Medicaid expenditures for ambulance and transport services rise to $1.56 million in 2024

In 2024, Gloucester Medicaid providers billed $1,555,904 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 represents a 14.8% increase from 2023, when billings for this category totaled $1,355,514.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program operated by states with joint federal and state funding, assists low-income individuals and families, as well as seniors, children, and those with disabilities, making it a key component of the U.S. health care system.

Because taxpayer funds support Medicaid, fluctuations in local billing illustrate how public health care resources are used at the community level.

The Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category comprises a set of Medicaid-billed services classified by type of care, determined through standardized HCPCS and CPT code ranges. For the purpose of this data analysis, service categories were assigned to billing codes using uniform code prefixes and number series, which helped ensure that comparisons captured related services without overlap and allowed for accurate year-to-year rankings.

Multiple Medicaid service categories saw increased spending, with Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked as the second-highest category by payment total in Gloucester for 2024.

At the state level in Massachusetts, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies stood as the eighth-largest category by total Medicaid spending for 2024.

Across the five-year span leading to 2024, payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Gloucester increased by $463,089, or 42.4%. Certain years, including 2021 and 2020, experienced stronger annual growth in spending.

Although funds for this service category were distributed citywide, a few ZIP codes received most of the payments. In 2024, ZIP code 01930 accounted for the entire $1,555,904 billed in Gloucester for this service type, representing 100% of the city’s Medicaid payments in this category that year.

Within Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, a small number of billing codes accounted for most Medicaid payments.

Comparing growth rates, Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Gloucester climbed by 14.8% between 2024 and 2023. Over the same period, Medicaid payments in all categories citywide increased by 12.2%.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that combined federal and state Medicaid outlays reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, which made up about 18% of the nation’s total health expenditures. This is a marked rise from around $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic period.

This increase reflects a roughly 40% rise over several years, largely due to expanded enrollment and heightened use during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, federal budget measures during the Trump administration have included proposals for significant reductions in federal Medicaid allocations and program restructuring. One example is the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, which is anticipated to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, implement work requirements, and increase cost-sharing, potentially impacting benefits and funding for some participants. These policies are expected to transfer additional responsibility to states and constrain federal Medicaid growth even as coverage remains extensive.

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.