Delaware City sees 31.8% jump in 2024 Medicaid spending for ambulance and transport services

In 2024, billing by Delaware City Medicaid providers for services listed under the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category reached $3,347, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This amount represented a 31.8% rise compared to 2023, when $2,539 was claimed for similar services.

Medicaid, a public health insurance initiative operated by individual states and jointly financed by federal and state governments, provides coverage for low-income residents, the elderly, children, and individuals with disabilities, making it a major segment of the U.S. health care landscape. Learn more here.

Since Medicaid funding is sourced from taxpayers, shifts in local billing amounts highlight how community health care dollars are spent.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” label groups various Medicaid-billed services defined by type of care, based on standardized HCPCS and CPT code categories. This analysis assigned each billing code to a single service class following code prefixes and number ranges, enabling a consistent review of related services while maintaining accurate tracking and rankings.

While Medicaid expenditures increased in several categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies led all categories in Delaware City for total Medicaid spending in 2024.

Statewide, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was ranked 11th in Delaware by total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Over the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments in Delaware City for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category grew by $3,563, or 51.6%. There were significant increases in certain years, with notable annual jumps occurring in 2020 and 2022.

Although spending in the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category was distributed throughout the city, payments were concentrated within a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 19706 reported the highest Medicaid total for this category, amounting to $3,347. Altogether, the leading ZIP code made up 100% of Medicaid spending related to Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Delaware City for the year.

Medicaid payments within this category were also concentrated in just a small number of specific billing codes.

Between 2024 and 2023, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies Medicaid payments in Delaware City grew by 31.8%. For comparison, total Medicaid payments across all categories in the city changed by 31.9% during the same timeframe.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached about $871.7 billion during fiscal year 2023, comprising roughly 18% of national health costs, up notably from around $613.5 billion in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This shift signifies an estimated 40% increase in just several years, primarily due to expanded enrollee numbers and greater use of services during and after the pandemic era.

Recent federal budget laws under the Trump administration brought major proposals to reduce federal Medicaid spending and restructure the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to trim over $1 trillion from Medicaid funding over 10 years, while introducing requirements such as work obligations and increased cost-sharing. These measures may reduce access or funds for some recipients and shift more responsibility to states even as the program 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.