South Dakota Medicaid spends $11,966,200 on ambulance and transport services in 2024

Medicaid spending in South Dakota amounted to $11,966,200 for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies in 2024, based on records from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represented an 8.2% increase from the previous year, when claims reached $11,054,927 across the state.

Medicaid operates as a state-run, publicly funded health insurance program supported by federal and state governments. The program supports lower-income individuals and families, seniors, children and people with disabilities, representing a significant component of America’s health care system.

Because Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, shifts in billing in specific communities illustrate the use and allocation of public health care money locally.

The “Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies” group includes Medicaid services as determined by standardized HCPCS and CPT code ranges and prefixes. For this review, each code was allocated to a single service group, helping group related services, avoid overlap, and maintain accurate rankings across years.

In cases where service categories include different underlying services, the category covers associated care types, such as office visits, diagnostics, and therapeutic procedures, commonly billed together for Medicaid.

Between 2019 and 2024, Medicaid reimbursement for the Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies segment in South Dakota rose by $6,593,333, a 122.7% gain. Spending rose most rapidly during some periods, with notable annual jumps in 2021 and again in 2023.

Although these services were provided statewide, the majority of Medicaid dollars went to a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP Code 57105 received $3,197,612 (26.7% of the statewide total), ZIP Code 57703 recorded $2,295,572 (19.2%), and ZIP Code 57570 had $2,087,515 (17.4%) in Medicaid expenditures under this category.

Those three ZIP codes combined for 63.4% of South Dakota’s Medicaid spending for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies during the year.

By comparison, Medicaid reimbursements for all categories increased 17.4% statewide from 2023 to 2024.

As overall spending rose across service groups, payments for Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies stood among the top six highest-funded categories in 2024 across the state.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, national Medicaid spending totaled roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, which accounted for around 18% of all health care spending in the country. This was a significant increase from approximately $613.5 billion spent in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts.

The change reflects almost 40% growth in a few years, with expanded enrollment and elevated usage seen throughout and after the pandemic years.

Recent national fiscal policy under the Trump administration featured proposals to reduce federal outlays for Medicaid and adjust its structure. Legislation such as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which became law in 2025, is projected to trim over $1 trillion from federal Medicaid funding over the next decade, while implementing work requirements and greater cost-sharing. These policy shifts are set to decrease coverage and federal funding for some, shifting more costs to individual states, even as Medicaid continues to insure tens of millions nationwide.