Medicaid billing for medicine services and procedures surges 10607.1% in Saraland for 2024

In 2024, Saraland Medicaid providers billed $181,592 for Medicine Services and Procedures, as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This figure reflects a 10607.1% surge compared with 2023, when $1,696 in claims were made for the same category of service.

Medicaid is a state-administered, federally and state-funded public health insurance program serving low-income individuals, families, seniors, children and people with disabilities, and remains one of the largest elements of the U.S. health care system.

Because Medicaid is taxpayer-funded, shifting amounts in local billing demonstrate how health care expenses are distributed within a community.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category includes a range of Medicaid-billed services defined by care type, sorted under uniform HCPCS and CPT code groups. This analysis assigned each billing code to a distinct service category using consistent code prefixes and numeric ranges, which helps group related services for clear examination while avoiding duplicate counts and maintaining accurate trends over time.

Though Medicaid expenditures grew in several service areas, Medicine Services and Procedures was the city’s second-highest category by total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Statewide in Alabama, the Medicine Services and Procedures category was ranked fourth by payment total that year.

Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid payments associated with Medicine Services and Procedures in Saraland climbed by $174,850, or 2593.6%. Periods including 2021 and 2022 saw particularly sharp annual increases in spending.

Spending on Medicine Services and Procedures was distributed citywide but heavily concentrated in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 36571 recorded $181,591 in Medicaid payments in this category. Altogether, the leading ZIP code represented 100% of Saraland’s Medicaid payments tied to Medicine Services and Procedures for the year.

Within the category, most Medicaid payments came from a few individual billing codes.

Comparatively, Medicaid payments related to Medicine Services and Procedures in Saraland jumped 10607.1% from 2023 to 2024, whereas all Medicaid categories together experienced a 54.8% change over that period in the city.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid expenditures totaled approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, about 18% of all national health spending, which marks a significant increase from $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This reflects roughly 40% growth in just a few years, largely attributed to broader enrollment and greater health care utilization during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures from the Trump administration have included major plans to reduce federal Medicaid outlays and reorganize how the program works. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” was enacted into law in 2025 and is expected to cut federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over 10 years, introducing policies like work requirements and increased cost-sharing, potentially limiting funding and coverage for certain recipients. These changes are anticipated to place more financial responsibility on states and slow the growth of federal Medicaid contributions, while the program still serves 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.