Dunmore Medicaid costs for ambulance and transport services hit $4.2M in 2024, marking a 68.5% rise

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database indicates that Medicaid providers in Dunmore billed $4,219,992 under Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in 2024. This represents a 68.5% rise compared with 2023, when claims for these services totaled $2,503,891.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program run by states and jointly funded by federal and state governments, provides coverage for low-income individuals, families, older adults, children, and people with disabilities. It is among the largest components of the U.S. health care system.

Taxpayer funding supports Medicaid, so changes in billing levels at the community level reveal how public health dollars are spent locally.

The Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category includes a set of Medicaid services grouped by type of care delivered, based on standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. Codes were assigned to a single service category for this analysis, using uniform code prefixes and numeric ranges to group services accurately, avoid double counting, and maintain consistent rankings by year.

Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies led all other Medicaid service categories by total payments in Dunmore for 2024.

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

Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid payments related to this category in Dunmore grew by $4,002,247, an increase of 1838%. Some years, including 2020 and 2021, saw accelerated growth with significant annual increases.

Although payments for ambulance and transport-related services spanned Dunmore, most of the spending was concentrated in just a handful of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 18512 accounted for $4,219,991—100% of payments in this category for Dunmore that year.

Payments in the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies group were also focused on a small number of specific billing codes.

From 2023 to 2024, Medicaid outlays for ambulance and transport services in Dunmore rose by 68.5%, whereas overall Medicaid claims in the city increased by 14.3% for all categories during the period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state spending on Medicaid reached around $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023 — about 18% of total U.S. health expenditures. This was a substantial increase from $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The jump represents roughly 40% growth in a few years, largely driven by greater enrollment and higher usage during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget bills signed during the Trump administration have included major provisions to cut federal Medicaid funding and redesign aspects of the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years and includes measures like work requirements and increased cost-sharing that could affect coverage and funding for some recipients. The result is likely increased responsibility for states and a cap on federal Medicaid expansion, even as millions remain enrolled 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.