Anniston Medicaid claims for COVID-19 services reach $499,934 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid payments in Anniston for services billed with HCPCS codes specifically tied to COVID-19 totaled at least $499,934, based on figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database.

Medicaid, administered by the states and funded in collaboration with federal and state governments, provides health insurance to low-income individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It is one of the primary components of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid coverage is taxpayer-funded, shifts in local billing reflect how public health care resources are distributed within a community.

For this report, only services billed under HCPCS codes labeled as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”–related in billing or reference data were counted, meaning the results include only those directly identified as COVID-19 in the claims. The numbers do not cover pandemic care billed under broader or non-specific codes.

Birmingham reported the highest Medicaid spending on COVID-19 services in Alabama for 2024, with $1,029,178 billed for virus-related claims.

Seven different providers in Anniston submitted Medicaid claims for COVID-19–related services in 2024. Immunoassay billing, one of the most frequently used codes, totaled $280,581.

To put this in perspective, the average COVID-19–related Medicaid payment per provider in Anniston was $71,419, which is above the state average of $35,056.

During the early pandemic, COVID-19–specific services contributed significantly to the increase in Medicaid spending in Anniston.

Medicaid payments for all other claim categories rose by $5,422,715 from 2020 to 2024, marking a 47.9% jump for the period.

In the two years leading up to the pandemic, Anniston’s average yearly Medicaid payments were $11,771,893.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report that total federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion during fiscal year 2023, making up nearly 18% of all national health expenditures, up from around $613.5 billion in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This represents growth of about 40% in only a few years, driven in large part by greater enrollment and higher service use during and after the pandemic.

Major recent federal budget legislation under the Trump administration has aimed to reduce Medicaid funding and adjust the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion in the next decade. The law implements new work requirements and more cost-sharing, which could decrease coverage and federal support for certain recipients. States are likely to bear more of the financial responsibility while millions continue to rely on Medicaid.

Note: Includes HCPCS codes explicitly labeled for COVID-19 services; totals do not represent all pandemic-related health care spending.

This article uses data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Original data is available here.