Statewide Medicaid spending in Illinois reached $7,530,975 for services listed under the Hearing Services category in 2024, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This total reflects a 24.6% increase over the prior year, when claims amounted to $6,043,511 in 2023.
Medicaid, overseen by the states and funded in partnership by federal and state sources, provides health insurance coverage for low-income people, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities. The program is one of the primary components of the nation’s health system.
Because taxpayer funding supports Medicaid, changes in local payment patterns help illustrate shifts in public health care spending within communities.
The Hearing Services category includes a variety of Medicaid-billed services, grouped based on standardized HCPCS and CPT code sets. For the purposes of analysis, each code is only linked to a single service category using uniform code prefixes and number ranges, which allows for analysis alongside accurate year-over-year comparisons and rankings.
In some cases, a category may cover several types of health services. When this applies, the category groups related types of care, such as visits, testing, and therapies, as commonly billed together within Medicaid claims.
Looking at the five years before 2024, Illinois Medicaid payments for Hearing Services grew by $4,124,667, an increase of 121.1%. Spending rose more sharply in certain periods, with notable increases seen in 2021 and 2022.
Although Hearing Services spending was distributed throughout Illinois, a majority of payments were located in certain ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP Code 60504 led with $2,889,262 (38.4% of the total), ZIP Code 60527 followed with $1,589,527 (21.1%), and ZIP Code 60076 registered $1,377,448 (18.3%).
Combined, these top three ZIP codes made up 77.8% of all Medicaid payments for Hearing Services across the state that year.
By comparison, Medicaid payments for all categories statewide rose 8.6% between 2023 and 2024.
As Medicaid spending increased in many categories, the Hearing Services category ranked among the top 14 service categories by total statewide payments for 2024.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid outlays reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up around 18% of all national health expenses—a significant jump from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This roughly 40% growth within a few years was mainly the result of broadened coverage and higher service utilization during and after the pandemic phase.
Recent federal budgeting under the Trump administration has included significant proposals to lower federal Medicaid spending and restructure program guidelines. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid disbursements by over $1 trillion across the next 10 years, adding policies like work requirements and expanded cost-sharing. These changes are set to transfer more spending responsibility to individual states and could cap increases in federal Medicaid contributions, even as the program continues to assist tens of millions across America.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $7,530,975 | 24.6% |
| 2023 | $6,043,511 | 20.2% |
| 2022 | $5,028,776 | 21.5% |
| 2021 | $4,139,211 | 21.5% |
| 2020 | $3,406,308 | -33.8% |
| 2019 | $5,144,202 | 7.1% |
| 2018 | $4,801,141 | N/A |
| ZIP Code | Medicaid Payments | % of State Total |
|---|---|---|
| 60504 | $2,889,262 | 38.4% |
| 60527 | $1,589,527 | 21.1% |
| 60076 | $1,377,448 | 18.3% |
| 60555 | $1,011,479 | 13.4% |
| 60068 | $369,580 | 4.9% |
| 62910 | $292,399 | 3.9% |
| 61350 | $784 | <0.1% |
| 61701 | $496 | <0.1% |
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database served as the basis for this report. The original dataset is accessible here.