Medicaid spending for ambulance and transport services climbs 5.8% in Central Islip in 2024

Medicaid providers in Central Islip billed $512,335 for services within the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category in 2024, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This was a 5.8% rise from 2023, when $484,185 in claims were submitted for identical services.

Medicaid, a health insurance program administered by states and funded jointly by federal and state governments, provides coverage to low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It remains one of the largest components of the U.S. health care system.

As Medicaid is funded through taxpayer dollars, shifts in local billing offer insight into the allocation of public health spending in each community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” label groups Medicaid-billed services by type of care, using standardized HCPCS and CPT code frameworks. For this report, each code was matched to one service group using consistent prefixes and numeric sequences, which allowed for accurate ranking over time without double-counting related services.

Although there was overall growth in multiple Medicaid service categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the sixth-largest in Central Islip by total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Statewide in New York, the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category ranked eighth in total payments for 2024.

Across the five years before 2024, Medicaid payments linked to Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Central Islip increased by $325,589, or 174.3%. Year-over-year payment growth was particularly strong in 2021 and 2022.

While these expenditures were spread throughout the city, the majority were concentrated within a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 11722 recorded $512,335 in Medicaid payments tied to the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category. The top single ZIP code made up 100% of such local spending in Central Islip during the year.

Payments within the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies grouping also focused on a small subset of billing codes.

Between 2024 and 2023, Central Islip saw Medicaid payments in this category increase by 5.8%, while aggregate Medicaid claim categories in the city posted a 12.7% change during the same timeframe.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid costs totaled about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023—roughly 18% of overall U.S. health expenditures—up from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This jump translates to nearly 40% growth in just a few years, primarily due to increased enrollment and higher service use during and following the pandemic.

Legislation enacted under the Trump administration introduced major potential reductions to federal Medicaid funding and changes in program structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over the next 10 years, implementing requirements such as work screenings and higher cost-sharing, both likely to impact coverage and state budgets as the federal contribution is capped while millions rely on Medicaid.

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.