Cold Spring sees 17.4% rise in Medicaid spending for medicine services in 2024

Medicaid providers in Cold Spring claimed $122,198 for Medicine Services and Procedures in 2024, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This reflected a 17.4% rise from 2023, when $104,081 in claims were submitted for the same service category.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program managed by the states and financed by both federal and state governments. The program provides coverage to low-income families and individuals, children, seniors, and people with disabilities, making it one of the largest components of the U.S. health system.

Since taxpayer contributions fund Medicaid, changes in local billing show how public dollars are spent on health care in each community.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category contains a range of Medicaid-billed services defined by type of care, based on standardized HCPCS and CPT code groups. For this examination, each billing code was placed in a single service group using consistent prefixes and number ranges, allowing related services to be tracked together, ensuring accurate rankings and no double counting over time.

While multiple categories saw increased Medicaid spending, Medicine Services and Procedures generated the highest Medicaid payments in Cold Spring for 2024.

Statewide in New York, the Medicine Services and Procedures category ranked third in total Medicaid payments during 2024.

Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid payments tied to Medicine Services and Procedures in Cold Spring grew by $98,979, or 426.3%. The growth accelerated during parts of the period, with significant jumps noted in 2023 and 2021.

Although payments in this category were made across Cold Spring, funds were focused in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 10516 accounted for $122,198 in Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures. Altogether, the top ZIP code comprised 100% of these payments in Cold Spring this year.

Within the Medicine Services and Procedures group, most Medicaid payments were concentrated within a limited number of billing codes.

From 2023 to 2024, Cold Spring’s Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures rose 17.4%, which matched the percentage increase seen for all Medicaid claim categories in the area over the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, representing approximately 18% of total U.S. health expenditures, up significantly from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This represents an increase of around 40% in just a few years, driven by expanded enrollment and greater use during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration have introduced major proposals for cutting federal Medicaid funds and restructuring the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is anticipated to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, with provisions such as work requirements and increased cost-sharing expected to lower coverage and funding for certain beneficiaries. These adjustments would shift additional costs to states and curb growth in federal Medicaid funding, while the program continues to cover tens of millions nationwide.

Note: HCPCS codes are listed for informational purposes within this category. Group totals and rankings rely on standardized service categories, not individual codes.

Details in this article come from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Source data is available here.