Stanford Medicaid providers billed $78,784 for COVID-19-specific care in 2024

Stanford Medicaid providers collected at least $78,784 in 2024 for services linked to COVID-19 through specific HCPCS codes, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. That amount marks a 21.4% rise from 2023, when providers filed $64,878 in claims using those same codes.

Medicaid is a public insurance program operated by states and financed through both federal and state governments. It serves low-income individuals and families, older adults, children and people with disabilities, ranking among the largest sectors of the U.S. health care system.

Because taxpayer dollars fund Medicaid, fluctuations in local billing demonstrate how publicly sourced health care money is distributed within a community.

This review counted services as COVID-19–related if their HCPCS codes were labeled or listed as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus” in billing descriptions or reference sources. As such, the reported totals cover only services flagged as COVID-specific in claims, omitting related care billed under less direct codes.

By comparison, San Jose had California’s highest Medicaid payments associated with COVID-19 services in 2024, reporting $5,601,479 in virus-related claims.

Only Stanford Health Care billed for Medicaid COVID-19–related services in the city throughout 2024 filings.

COVID-19–related claims made up a notable portion of Medicaid spending increases in Stanford during the pandemic years.

Payments for all other Medicaid claims categories rose by $49,205,389 between 2020 and 2024, a 186.6% increase.

In the two years before the pandemic, the annual average of Medicaid payments in Stanford was $29,442,736.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending combined reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, making up roughly 18% of total U.S. health expenditures. That was up sharply from around $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This growth represents an increase of about 40% in a few years, mainly reflecting higher enrollment and utilization during and after the pandemic period.

Federal budget legislation signed under the Trump administration featured initiatives to cut federal Medicaid funding and restructure the program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is set to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years and introduces policies such as work mandates and higher cost-sharing that could lower benefits for some groups. Such changes are expected to transfer more expenses to states, limiting federal Medicaid support growth, even as the program serves millions of Americans.

Note: HCPCS codes included were those clearly marked for COVID-19 services; totals may not encompass all pandemic-related health care expenses.

This article’s data comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Find the original data set here.