Tombstone Medicaid billing for Medicine Services and Procedures reaches $12,301 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Tombstone billed $12,301 for services classified within the Medicine Services and Procedures category, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This total represents a 242.7% rise compared to 2023, when $3,589 in claims were submitted for the same category.

Medicaid is a public health insurance program managed by states and funded jointly by state and federal governments. It serves low-income people and families, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities, making it among the nation’s largest health care programs.

Since Medicaid payments are derived from taxpayer funds, variations in local billing indicate how public health care resources are distributed in different communities.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category is comprised of a set of Medicaid-billed services identified by care type, based on uniform HCPCS and CPT coding systems. Each billing code was assigned to only one service category for this review, relying on consistent code prefixes and numerical groupings to group related services, reduce double counting, and maintain accurate comparisons over time.

Though Medicaid spending grew across several service categories, Medicine Services and Procedures was the leading category for total Medicaid payments in Tombstone in 2024.

Statewide in Arizona, Medicine Services and Procedures was the fifth-largest category by total payments in 2024.

From 2019 to 2024, Medicaid payments associated with Medicine Services and Procedures in Tombstone rose by $11,440, an increase of 1328.2%. Spending accelerated at various points, with substantial annual growth reported in both 2021 and 2022.

While the distribution of Medicine Services and Procedures payments covered many areas within the city, the funds were concentrated primarily within a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 85638 accounted for $12,300, making up 100% of Tombstone’s Medicaid billing for Medicine Services and Procedures that year.

Medicaid payments within this service category were focused among a small number of billing codes.

Comparing the time period between 2024 and 2023, Tombstone’s Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures increased by 242.7%, mirroring the overall growth across all Medicaid claim codes in the city for the same timeframe.

Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says combined federal and state Medicaid spending hit about $871.7 billion in the 2023 fiscal year. This represented roughly 18% of total national health costs, a significant increase compared with roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the pandemic.

This rise amounts to almost 40% in several years, primarily due to greater enrollment and higher utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws enacted during the Trump administration featured notable proposals to cut federal Medicaid funds and modify the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next decade and adds policy changes like work requirements and increased cost-sharing that may limit coverage and funding for some recipients. These adjustments are projected to increase states’ fiscal responsibility and restrain the growth of federal Medicaid contributions, even as the program continues supporting millions nationwide.

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.