Bath Medicaid spending for ambulance and transport services climbs to $178,313 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Bath billed $178,313 for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending data shows. This figure represents a 4.1% increase compared to 2023, when claims for this service totaled $171,277.

Medicaid is a public insurance initiative managed by states and funded jointly by federal and state governments. It provides coverage for low-income individuals and families, including seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a key component of the nation’s health care system.

Since Medicaid payments derive from taxpayer funds, changing claims at the local level illustrate how health care resources are distributed within communities.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” classification includes a selection of Medicaid-billed services grouped by care type, organized through standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. For this report, each billing code was mapped to a designated service category using standardized code prefixes and ranges, which enabled analysis of related services while avoiding double counting and maintaining consistent category rankings over time.

Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the fourth-largest Medicaid service category by payment in Bath during 2024, among categories that saw increased spending.

Statewide in Maine, this category ranked seventh for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Bath rose by $35,558, a 24.9% increase. Certain years, including 2020 and 2022, saw especially rapid annual growth in spending.

While Medicaid expenditures for these services were distributed throughout Bath, payments were heavily concentrated in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, the ZIP code 04530 accounted for all $178,313 in category spending. The top ZIP code thus comprised 100% of local Medicaid payments for these services that year.

Payments in this category were also clustered among a small number of individual billing codes.

Comparatively, the 4.1% growth in Medicaid payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Bath from 2023 to 2024 was less than the 6% growth recorded across all Medicaid claim categories citywide for the same period.

Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show total federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up roughly 18% of all national health expenditures—an increase from around $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This change reflects an approximate 40% rise over several years, driven mainly by higher enrollment and service use during and following the pandemic.

Federal legislation passed during the Trump administration enacted substantial proposals to lower federal Medicaid funding and restructure the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” for example, was signed into law in 2025 and is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years. The law also introduces measures like work requirements and greater cost-sharing, changes that could limit coverage and funding for certain beneficiaries. As a result, the legislation may require states to shoulder more costs and may slow federal Medicaid funding growth, though the program still serves 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.