Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures in East Palo Alto climbed to $1,097,928 in 2024

Medicaid providers in East Palo Alto billed $1,097,928 for services grouped under the Medicine Services and Procedures category in 2024, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This represented a 96.7% increase from 2023, when providers billed $558,163 for similar services.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program managed by the states and funded in partnership with federal and state governments. It covers low-income individuals and families, older adults, children, and those with disabilities, making it a major component of the U.S. health system.

Since Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, shifts in local billing figures illustrate changes in the distribution of public health care spending within a community.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category encompasses a range of Medicaid-billed services, organized by the type of care using standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. This review assigned each billing code to one service category based on consistent code prefixes and numerical ranges to ensure related services are grouped together, avoid double counting, and allow accurate rankings over time.

While Medicaid outlays increased for several categories, Medicine Services and Procedures ranked third among all categories for Medicaid payments in East Palo Alto in 2024.

Statewide, Medicine Services and Procedures also placed third for overall Medicaid payments in California in 2024.

Over the five years leading up to 2024, Medicaid payments for the Medicine Services and Procedures category in East Palo Alto grew by $1,017,610—a 1267% climb. Growth in spending intensified during certain periods, with large year-on-year increases observed in 2021 and 2023.

Spending on care within this category was spread across East Palo Alto, but concentrated in relatively few ZIP codes. In 2024, the ZIP code generating the highest Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures was 94303, accounting for $1,097,928. Altogether, the top ZIP code made up 100% of Medicaid payments for this category in East Palo Alto during 2024.

Medicaid payments within the Medicine Services and Procedures group were largely assigned to a handful of specific billing codes.

Comparatively, Medicaid payments tied to Medicine Services and Procedures in East Palo Alto grew by 96.7% from 2023 to 2024. This compares to a 0.9% change for all Medicaid claim categories in the city over the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, joint federal and state Medicaid outlays totaled about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, or roughly 18% of total national health expenditures. This is up substantially from about $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase equates to roughly 40% growth in just a few years, fueled primarily by expanded enrollment and higher care utilization during and after the pandemic.

Legislation under the Trump administration recently introduced major proposals to reduce federal Medicaid funding and alter the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over the next decade. It also implements changes like work requirements and extra cost-sharing, steps that could limit coverage and funding for some recipients and shift costs to states, even as Medicaid remains a vital resource for tens of millions of Americans.

Note: HCPCS codes are provided for context within the category. Category totals and rankings mentioned here use standardized service groupings, not individual billing codes.

Information in this story comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Source data is available here.