Cheswold sees $46,477 in Medicaid spending for ambulance, transport services in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Cheswold billed $46,477 for services in the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category, as shown by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending data. This amount rose 220.4% compared to 2023, when claims for the same service type totaled $14,506.

Medicaid, a state-administered public health insurance program with joint state and federal funding, serves low-income individuals, families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. The program is one of the largest components of the U.S. health care system. Additional information is available from the Commonwealth Fund.

Since Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, shifts in local billing patterns can highlight how health care funds are being distributed within a community.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” grouping consists of services defined by care type, aligned to standardized HCPCS and CPT code sets. Each billing code was categorized based on consistent code prefixes and numeric groupings for this analysis, facilitating clear service comparisons and accurate annual rankings while avoiding duplicate counts.

While spending rose among several categories, Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies was Cheswold’s top-ranked category for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Statewide, this service group ranked 11th in Delaware based on Medicaid spending totals in 2024.

From five years prior to 2024, Cheswold’s Medicaid payments for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category increased by $38,996, or 521.2%. The rate of spending climbed faster in some years, showing notable jumps in 2020 and 2023.

Most payments in this category were concentrated in just a few ZIP codes. In 2024, the 19936 ZIP code reported $46,476 in claims—accounting for 100% of the Medicaid spending on Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Cheswold.

Payments within the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies category were also focused on a small number of billing codes.

Medicaid spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in Cheswold increased by 220.4% between 2024 and 2023. Across all Medicaid claim categories in the same time period, the city saw an equal 220.4% change.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid funding nationwide reached around $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up about 18% of total U.S. health expenditures. This is a sharp increase from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak.

This nearly 40% growth over a few years was largely fueled by higher enrollment and increased utilization due to and following the pandemic.

Federal budget measures passed during the Trump administration included notable recommendations to scale back Medicaid funding and modify the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed in 2025, is slated to cut over $1 trillion from federal Medicaid expenditures in the coming 10 years and introduce changes such as work requirements and additional cost-sharing, potentially limiting benefits and funding for certain recipients. These revisions are anticipated to delegate more costs to states and constrain future federal Medicaid financial growth, even as the program remains significant for 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.