Ruidoso Medicaid spending tops $3.4 million for ambulance, transport services in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Ruidoso submitted $3,429,440 in claims for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represents a 9.1% rise over 2023, when claims totaled $3,142,148 for the same category.

Medicaid, a state-administered program funded jointly by state and federal sources, provides health insurance to low-income people, children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities. The program remains a central part of the U.S. health care system in terms of reach and spending.

Since Medicaid relies on taxpayer funding, shifts in local billing patterns reflect how community resources are distributed in public health care.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” group consists of Medicaid-billed services categorized by specific care according to standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. Each billing code was included in a single service group for this analysis using defined code prefixes and numeric ranges, which prevents duplicate counts and supports accurate comparisons over time.

While spending grew across various Medicaid categories, the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies group was the leading category by total Medicaid payments in Ruidoso in 2024.

Statewide, this category placed fifth for Medicaid payment volume in New Mexico in 2024.

From 2019 through 2024, Medicaid claims for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Ruidoso increased by $60,284, or 1.8%. Certain periods saw accelerated growth, particularly in 2022 and 2021, with sizable year-on-year gains.

Across Ruidoso, payments in this category were distributed geographically but heavily concentrated in specific ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 88345 accounted for $3,429,439 in Medicaid payments for this service type. The highest-billing ZIP code represented 100% of total Medicaid spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in the city during the year.

The distribution of Medicaid payments within this category was also focused on a small selection of billing codes.

When compared with all Medicaid claim groups in Ruidoso, spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies climbed 9.1% between 2024 and 2023, while total claims across all categories rose 15.4% during the same timeframe.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid spending from federal and state sources totaled an estimated $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, or about 18% of national health care expenditures, up significantly from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019 before the pandemic.

This change means Medicaid spending increased by around 40% over a few years, largely due to more enrollees and higher service usage during and after COVID-19.

Recent federal budget actions under the Trump administration included proposals for major federal Medicaid cuts and program restructuring. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to trim over $1 trillion from federal Medicaid funding during the next decade. The law also brings in measures such as work requirements and increased cost-sharing, which may reduce federal coverage and shift costs toward the states, affecting funding and coverage for several groups even as Medicaid remains a central part of coverage for millions.

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.