In 2024, Medicaid providers in Burlingame billed a total of $6,246,939 for services under the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This figure reflects a 30.5% uptick from 2023, when claims totaled $4,786,507 for the same services.
Medicaid, a state-administered program jointly funded by the federal and state governments, provides health insurance for low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. This makes Medicaid a key component of the U.S. health care system.
Since taxpayer dollars support Medicaid payments, shifts in billing amounts provide insight into how public health care resources are distributed at the local level.
The Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies classification includes a range of Medicaid services grouped by the type of care, based on consistent HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this assessment, billing codes were matched to their respective service category using standardized code prefixes and number ranges, ensuring that services are grouped accurately without overlapping counts, which enables robust trend tracking.
Though Medicaid spending went up across multiple categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was the second-largest category in Burlingame by total payments in 2024.
At the state level, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies ranked ninth in California for total Medicaid payments in 2024.
Looking over the previous five years, Medicaid payments tied to Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Burlingame grew by $3,237,814, marking a 107.6% rise. Notable spikes in spending occurred in 2020 and 2023, contributing to the overall growth.
Although these payments were distributed throughout Burlingame, the majority were concentrated in only a handful of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 94010 saw the highest payments for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category, with $6,246,939 billed. This location alone accounted for 100% of Burlingame’s Medicaid payments within this category during the year.
Furthermore, a limited number of billing codes represented most Medicaid payments within the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category.
To provide context, Burlingame’s 30.5% year-over-year jump in Medicaid payments for this category from 2023 to 2024 outpaced the 16.6% increase observed across all Medicaid claim categories in the city over the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending combined reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023 and represented roughly 18% of all U.S. health expenditures—an increase from $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This rise amounts to approximately 40% growth in a few years, mostly due to expanded enrollment and greater service utilization during and following the pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration have introduced proposals to cut federal Medicaid spending and modify the program’s structure. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, aims to reduce federal Medicaid funding by over $1 trillion over the coming decade. It brings in work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could limit coverage and funding for some recipients. These reforms are expected to shift more financial responsibility to states and slow federal Medicaid spending growth, even as the program continues to serve tens of millions of people nationwide.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $3,009,125 | 66% |
| 2021 | $3,447,224 | 14.6% |
| 2022 | $3,848,574 | 11.6% |
| 2023 | $4,786,506 | 24.4% |
| 2024 | $6,246,939 | 30.5% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Procedures / Professional Services | $13,503,264 | 53.2% |
| 2 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $6,246,939 | 24.6% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $1,794,579 | 7.1% |
| 4 | Evaluation and Management | $1,383,784 | 5.5% |
| 5 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $872,086 | 3.4% |
| 6 | Radiology Procedures | $628,208 | 2.5% |
| 7 | Anesthesia | $505,588 | 2% |
| 8 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $268,804 | 1.1% |
| 9 | Surgery | $126,867 | 0.5% |
| 10 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $28,678 | 0.1% |
| 11 | Temporary Codes | $13,381 | 0.1% |
| 12 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $2,997 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| A0427 | Als1-emergency | $3,643,163 | 24 |
| A0425 | Ground mileage | $972,692 | 36 |
| A0130 | Noner transport wheelch van | $459,543 | 22 |
| A0429 | Bls-emergency | $437,069 | 11 |
| A0120 | Noner transport mini-bus | $345,908 | 12 |
| A0380 | Basic life support mileage | $241,989 | 22 |
| A0428 | Bls | $73,942 | 10 |
| A0433 | Als 2 | $37,719 | 6 |
| A0434 | Specialty care transport | $27,401 | 5 |
| A0422 | Ambulance 02 life sustaining | $3,970 | 11 |
| A0426 | Als 1 | $3,536 | 1 |
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.