Butler Medicaid payments for ambulance and transport services rise 124.9% in 2024

In 2024, Butler Medicaid providers billed $64,511 for services in the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This was a 124.9% rise from 2023, when providers reported $28,689 in claims for the same services.

Medicaid is a government-run health insurance program administered by the states and funded in partnership with federal and state governments. It serves low-income individuals and families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities, making it a major component of the U.S. health system.

Since Medicaid is taxpayer-funded, fluctuations in local billing levels indicate how community resources for health care are distributed.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” group includes services classified by the care provided, based on standard HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this analysis, each billing code was mapped to a single service category following consistent code prefixes and number ranges, enabling grouped service reviews without double counting to ensure accuracy in ranking trends.

Although Medicaid spending climbed in several service categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the fourth-largest by Medicaid payments in Butler for 2024.

Statewide, this category ranked third by total Medicaid payments in Missouri for 2024.

From 2019 through 2024, Medicaid payments related to the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category in Butler rose by $33,660, or 109.1%. There were periods of faster growth, with significant annual increases occurring in 2021 and 2022.

Although spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was spread throughout Butler, the majority of payments were concentrated within a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 64730 recorded the highest Medicaid payments for this category, totaling $64,510. This ZIP code accounted for 100% of Butler’s Medicaid payments in the category for the year.

Within the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies grouping, most Medicaid spending was concentrated in a few billing codes.

To compare, Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Butler jumped 124.9% from 2023 to 2024, while all Medicaid claim categories in the city increased by 6.2% for the same period.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that combined Medicaid spending by federal and state governments was about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, representing roughly 18% of total national health expenditures and up significantly from $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This represents approximately 40% growth over several years, mainly driven by greater enrollment and increased utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration have proposed major cuts to federal Medicaid funds and changes to program structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years. Its provisions, including work requirements and higher cost-sharing, may lower coverage or funding for some participants. As a result, more costs are expected to shift to states, potentially constraining the growth of federal Medicaid support even as the program continues to serve tens of millions of people across the U.S.

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.