Medicaid spending for ambulance and transport services in Coalgate up 53.5% in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Coalgate billed $8,168 for services categorized under Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, based on figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represents a 53.5% rise over 2023, when providers recorded $5,322 in claims for the same classification.

Medicaid is a state-administered health insurance program with funding sourced jointly from federal and state governments. The program covers individuals and families with low incomes, older adults, children, and those with disabilities, making it a foundational piece of the U.S. health system.

Because Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, shifts in community billing patterns demonstrate how public health funds are utilized locally.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” service area includes Medicaid-billed services grouped by type of care, following standardized HCPCS and CPT code sets. For this report, each billing code is sorted into one service category using consistent code prefixes and numerical ranges, which avoids double counting and enables clear year-over-year tracking of related services.

Though Medicaid expenditures climbed in several categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked as the fourth-largest service by Medicaid payment total in Coalgate in 2024.

Statewide in Oklahoma, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies placed sixth in total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Reviewing the five years before 2024, Medicaid payments in this category in Coalgate grew by $2,743, equaling a 25.1% gain. Spending growth accelerated at several points, notably with year-over-year jumps in 2020 and 2023.

Payments for this category were made across the city but mainly concentrated in few ZIP codes. For 2024, ZIP code 74538 saw the highest, at $8,167, making up 100% of associated Medicaid claims for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Coalgate that year.

Within this category, Medicaid reimbursements were also focused on a small set of billing codes.

Comparatively, spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Coalgate increased by 53.5% between 2024 and 2023, whereas payments across all Medicaid claim categories in the city changed by 29.5% during the same time.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that combined federal and state Medicaid outlays reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, representing about 18% of total U.S. health spending, a sharp increase from around $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This jump reflects an increase of about 40% over a few years, largely tied to expanded program enrollment and greater service use during and following the pandemic.

Federal budget measures enacted during the Trump administration included substantial plans to cut federal Medicaid allocations and adjust the structure of the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid funding by over $1 trillion in the coming decade and introduces policies—such as work mandates and higher cost-sharing—that could result in less coverage and funding for certain recipients. These changes are anticipated to move more fiscal responsibility to states and may restrict federal Medicaid growth, despite continued service to tens of millions nationwide.

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.