Medicaid spending for Medicine Services and Procedures up 21.3% in Los Altos

Los Altos Medicaid providers billed $59,043 for Medicine Services and Procedures in 2024, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. That figure represents a 21.3% increase over 2023, when the same services generated $48,689 in Medicaid claims.

Medicaid, a state-run health insurance program jointly funded by the federal and state governments, covers low-income people, families, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities, positioning it as a primary component of the U.S. health care system. More background on Medicaid funding can be found here.

Because Medicaid is taxpayer funded, fluctuations in the amounts providers bill locally illustrate changes in how public health care resources are spent in a community.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category includes a set of Medicaid-billed services organized by care type according to standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. For this review, each billing code was assigned to just one service category using consistent code prefixes and number ranges, so related services could be studied together without double counting and maintaining accurate rankings over time.

While Medicaid expenditures grew across several categories, Medicine Services and Procedures was the second-highest category in Los Altos by total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Statewide, Medicine Services and Procedures ranked third in California for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Examining the five years before 2024, Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures in Los Altos rose by $57,223, or 3143.9%. Certain periods saw faster growth, with significant year-over-year increases taking place in 2022 and 2021.

Though spending on Medicine Services and Procedures occurred throughout Los Altos, payments were concentrated within a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 94023 was the highest, totaling $59,042 in Medicaid payments—making up 100% of all local spending for this service category during the year.

Within the Medicine Services and Procedures grouping, a limited number of billing codes generated the majority of Medicaid payments.

By comparison, Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures in Los Altos increased 21.3% between 2024 and 2023, whereas total Medicaid claim categories citywide rose 2.5% over the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, overall federal and state Medicaid spending hit about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, or around 18% of total national health expenditures, a sharp rise from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This equals nearly 40% growth in just a few years, fueled largely by higher enrollment and increased use of services during and following the pandemic period.

Federal budget legislation during the Trump administration featured proposals to cut federal Medicaid spending and overhaul the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid expenditures by more than $1 trillion over the coming decade, adding work requirements and higher cost-sharing. These measures could restrict coverage and funding for some recipients, shifting greater responsibility to states and potentially slowing the growth of federal Medicaid funding, though the program continues to support tens of millions of Americans.

Note: HCPCS codes are provided for context in this category. Category totals and rankings in this article rely on standardized service groupings, not individual billing codes.

This article is based on information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Source data is available here.