Littlestown Medicaid spending on medicine services reaches $3,162 in 2024, surging 1037%

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Littlestown billed a total of $3,162 for services categorized as Medicine Services and Procedures, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This figure represents a 1037.4% rise compared with 2023, when $278 in claims was submitted for the same services.

Medicaid, which is operated by states and funded by both federal and state governments, provides health coverage for low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It is among the largest U.S. health care programs.

Because Medicaid funding is taxpayer-based, shifts in billing patterns locally illustrate how public health care funds are allocated within a community.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category consists of Medicaid-billed services defined by care type, using standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this analysis, each billing code was matched to a single service category using code prefixes and number ranges, enabling researchers to examine related services together while avoiding double counting and keeping rankings accurate over time.

Spending increased across several Medicaid service categories, with Medicine Services and Procedures ranking second for total Medicaid payments in Littlestown for 2024.

Statewide in Pennsylvania, Medicine Services and Procedures was third in total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Looking at the five years through 2024, Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures in Littlestown rose by $2,437, or 335.9%. Periods such as 2021 and 2022 saw accelerated spending growth with notable year-over-year gains.

Within the city, spending for Medicine Services and Procedures was spread throughout Littlestown, but payments were predominantly from a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 17340 accounted for $3,161 in claims, comprising 100% of Medicaid payments in this category locally for the year.

Most Medicaid payments in the Medicine Services and Procedures category were concentrated in several specific billing codes.

Comparing overall growth, Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures in Littlestown rose 1037.4% between 2024 and 2023, whereas all other Medicaid claim categories combined recorded a 23.3% change in the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, total federal and state Medicaid spending reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023. Medicaid accounted for an estimated 18% of national health expenditures, up from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This represents about 40% growth over a few years, driven primarily by higher enrollment and increased service use during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws enacted during the Trump administration feature major proposals to reduce federal Medicaid outlays and restructure the program. As an example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is projected to cut more than $1 trillion in federal Medicaid funding over the next 10 years and brings measures like work requirements and greater cost-sharing, which could reduce both coverage and federal support for some beneficiaries. The changes are expected to shift additional costs to states and limit the expansion of federal Medicaid funding, while the program still covers 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.