Celina sees 39.5% rise in Medicaid spending for ambulance, transport services in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Celina billed $27,838 for services in the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This total marked a 39.5% hike compared with 2023, when claims for this category stood at $19,958.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program managed by states and funded in partnership by federal and state governments. The program provides coverage for low-income Americans, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a major component of the national health care system.

Because Medicaid funding is generated by taxpayers, shifts in local billing underscore how public health care resources are allocated at the community level.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” group captures a set of Medicaid-billed provisions defined by service type, using standardized HCPCS and CPT code segments. For this review, each code was assigned to a specific service grouping, relying on consistent code prefixes and ranges to allow similar services to be examined collectively without double counting, helping maintain reliable rankings year over year.

Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies recorded the highest total Medicaid payments across all service categories in Celina in 2024.

Statewide in Tennessee, this category ranked eighth by total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Looking over the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category increased by $29,647 in Celina, a rise of 51.6%. Periods of rapid growth were notable in both 2020 and 2021, with consecutive year-over-year spikes in spending.

While services were billed throughout Celina, payments were notably concentrated in just a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 38551 saw Medicaid payments for this service total $27,837, meaning the top ZIP code accounted for the entirety of claims in the city for this service type that year.

For this category, Medicaid disbursements were mainly associated with only a handful of billing codes.

By comparison, Medicaid spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies rose 39.5% from 2023 to 2024, whereas the city overall saw a 21% increase among all Medicaid claim categories during the same window.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data show that combined state and federal Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, accounting for roughly 18% of total national health expenses and up from about $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This surge marks growth of about 40% in just a few years, fueled mainly by rising enrollment and increased service use during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget actions during the Trump administration included significant proposals to scale down federal Medicaid support and alter program structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to cut federal Medicaid funding by over $1 trillion over the coming decade, adding changes like work requirements and greater cost-sharing that may decrease funding and coverage for certain recipients. These measures are expected to shift more funding responsibilities to states and slow the expansion of federal support as the program remains a safety net for millions.

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.