Medicaid outlays for ambulance, transport services in Pasadena top $201.7 million in 2024

Pasadena Medicaid providers submitted $201,771,462 in claims for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in 2024, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represented a 62.8% uptick over 2023, when claims in this category amounted to $123,954,588.

Medicaid is a jointly funded public health insurance program administered by states and the federal government together. The program serves low-income groups, including families, older adults, children and individuals with disabilities, and is a major part of health care nationwide.

Because taxpayer dollars support Medicaid, fluctuations in local billing help illustrate how health care funds are distributed within a community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” grouping refers to Medicaid services identified by care type, classified through standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. For this assessment, codes were grouped by consistent prefixes and numerical ranges, enabling analysis of related service categories without duplication and supporting preservation of ranking accuracy over time.

Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies topped all Medicaid-billed categories by total payments in Pasadena in 2024, despite increases across several categories.

Statewide, the same category ranked ninth in California for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid payments in Pasadena for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies climbed by $159,790,547, representing an increase of 380.6%. Certain periods saw sharper spikes, with notable annual rises documented in 2023 and 2022.

Payments for these ambulance and other transport services in Pasadena during 2024 were largely concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In particular, ZIP code 91107 reached Medicaid payments of $201,041,086, while 91109 recorded $730,375. Combined, these two ZIP codes made up 100% of Medicaid payments in this service category for the year.

Medicaid reimbursements for these services were also clustered around a small set of individual billing codes.

In comparison, Medicaid spending on Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Pasadena grew by 62.8% from 2023 to 2024, a faster rate than the overall 33.6% growth seen across all local claim categories in the same period.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report that federal and state Medicaid spending reached nearly $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up around 18% of the nation’s total health expenditures. This is up sharply from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This roughly 40% rise over a few years is mainly attributed to broader enrollment and increased use of health services throughout and after the pandemic.

Recent budget laws enacted during the Trump administration introduced significant measures reducing federal Medicaid allocations and altering the structure of the program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which took effect in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid support by over $1 trillion through the next decade. The act adds provisions like work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could decrease benefits and funds for some participants. These adjustments are expected to pass additional costs on to states and curb federal program growth, even as tens of millions remain beneficiaries.

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.

This article relied on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Full source data can be accessed here.