Nazareth’s Medicaid spending on ambulance and transport services reaches $147,550 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Nazareth submitted $147,550 in claims for services within the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category, based on data reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This reflected a 26.6% increase over 2023, when claims for the same category totaled $116,519.

Medicaid operates as a state-administered public health insurance initiative, jointly funded by state and federal governments. The program provides coverage for low-income individuals and families, as well as seniors, children, and people with disabilities, and forms a major segment of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid funding is sourced from taxpayers, changes in billing activity locally provide a snapshot of how health care dollars are distributed in a given community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” designation encompasses a category of Medicaid-funded services classified by care type, using standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. Each billing code for this analysis falls into a specific service category according to established prefixes and code ranges, facilitating aggregation and comparison while avoiding duplication, and ensuring accurate service rankings year over year.

While various service categories saw growth, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies stood as the second highest by total Medicaid payment amount in Nazareth for 2024.

Across Pennsylvania, the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category ranked sixth in total Medicaid payments for 2024.

From 2019 to 2024, Medicaid payments in this category in Nazareth grew by $115,638, or 362.4%. Accelerated spending occurred in certain intervals, with particularly high increases during 2023 and 2021.

Although Medicaid expenditures in this category occurred throughout the city, they were concentrated in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 18064 accounted for the full $147,550 total, representing 100% of the category’s Medicaid payments in Nazareth for the year.

Payments within this category were also concentrated among a small subset of specific billing codes.

In comparison, Medicaid payments for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category in Nazareth increased by 26.6% from 2023 to 2024, above the 7.8% overall growth seen across all Medicaid claim types in the same timeframe citywide.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending together totaled roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, which accounted for approximately 18% of all national health expenditures—up significantly from $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase amounts to about 40% growth over several years, with much of the rise connected to expanded program enrollment and higher health care utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget legislation enacted under the Trump administration features notable proposals to trim federal Medicaid outlays and change the program structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion throughout the next decade, introducing measures such as mandatory work requirements and higher cost-sharing, impacting coverage and financial support for certain beneficiaries. These adjustments are likely to shift more costs onto states and restrain federal Medicaid growth, even as the program continues to cover 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.