Steelville Medicaid spending for Medicine Services and Procedures jumps to $3,360 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Steelville billed $3,360 for services classified under the Medicine Services and Procedures category, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. That figure marks a 748.5% rise from 2023, when claims for the same services totalled $396.

Medicaid, a state-administered health insurance program jointly funded by federal and state governments, covers low-income families and individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. This makes it a core component of the U.S. health care system. More information about Medicaid funding is available from the Commonwealth Fund.

Since Medicaid payments derive from taxpayer funds, fluctuations in local billing amounts provide insight into how a community’s public health dollars are spent.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category encompasses a defined set of services billed to Medicaid, grouped by care type using uniform HCPCS and CPT codes. For this report, codes were assigned to one service group according to established prefixes and numeric ranges, ensuring related services were evaluated together, preventing double counting, and maintaining accurate historical rankings.

Spending climbed in several Medicaid service categories, with Medicine Services and Procedures finishing third in Steelville by total Medicaid spending in 2024.

Across Missouri, Medicine Services and Procedures ranked seventh statewide in 2024 in total Medicaid payment volume.

Evaluating the five years preceding 2024, Steelville’s Medicaid payments for this category grew by $990, or 41.8%. Certain periods saw accelerated increases, such as notable jumps in 2021 and 2020.

While Medicaid spending in this category was distributed citywide, the bulk was limited to few ZIP codes. During 2024, the highest Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures came from ZIP code 65565, totaling $3,360. This single ZIP code represented 100% of Steelville’s Medicaid payments for this service group that year.

Payments within Medicine Services and Procedures were concentrated in just a handful of billing codes.

Between 2024 and 2023, Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures in Steelville increased 748.5%, whereas the overall rise across all Medicaid claim categories in the city during that time was 19.5%.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, which was around 18% of total national health costs. This is a significant increase from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This marks about 40% overall growth in just a few years, with the main drivers being expanded Medicaid enrollment and higher use of services during and after the pandemic period.

Major federal budget measures during the Trump administration included plans to cut federal Medicaid funding and alter the program. One example is the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, which is estimated to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over 10 years and introduces requirements such as mandatory employment and higher cost-sharing. These policies could result in reduced coverage and funding for some users, shifting more financial responsibility to states and slowing federal support even as Medicaid serves tens of millions of people nationwide.

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.