Holdrege Medicaid COVID-19 claims amounted to $2,930 in 2024

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database show Holdrege saw at least $2,930 in Medicaid reimbursements in 2024 for services linked to COVID-19 through specific HCPCS codes.

Medicaid, a major public health insurance program managed by the states and financed with both federal and state funding, serves low-income people, families, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities. It remains a major component of the U.S. health care infrastructure.

Since Medicaid is taxpayer-funded, differences in local billing highlight how each community’s public health care resources are deployed.

This report identified COVID-19–related services by using HCPCS codes described as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”-related in billing records or by reference classification. The calculations only represent services that are directly labeled as COVID-19 within billing data and may exclude other pandemic care filed under broader codes.

Nebraska’s largest total for Medicaid COVID-19-associated claims in 2024 occurred in Omaha, which saw $74,981 in related payment submissions.

Holdrege had three providers who filed Medicaid claims for COVID-19–related care in 2024. The Immunoassay code contributed the largest sum by category, making up $2,158 of local COVID-19 Medicaid payments.

Average COVID-19–related Medicaid payments per provider in Holdrege reached $977. This figure is less than the Nebraska average of $4,379 per provider.

Over the course of the pandemic, Holdrege recorded a noticeable impact on local Medicaid spending growth attributable to COVID-19–specific services.

Looking across all other Medicaid claim groups, local payments rose by $2,219 between 2020 and 2024, equating to a 0.4% gain.

In the two years before the onset of the pandemic, Holdrege’s average annual Medicaid payments totaled $577,916.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid spending from both federal and state budgets reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, covering roughly 18% of the nation’s total health expenses. That was a substantial increase from $613.5 billion in 2019 before the pandemic began.

This change represents a nearly 40% rise over several years, driven largely by greater enrollment and service use during and after the pandemic period.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration have featured significant proposals to cut federal Medicaid funding and alter the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid funding by over $1 trillion over the next decade. It adds requirements such as work stipulations and higher cost-sharing, potentially shrinking coverage and funding for some users. These policies could shift a greater share of funding responsibility to states and slow the expansion of federal aid, even as many Americans 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.

The information for this article is sourced from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. You can access the original data here.