Wake Forest sees at least $4,250 in Medicaid payments tied to COVID-19 services in 2024

At least $4,250 in Medicaid payments for services billed under HCPCS codes specifically tied to COVID-19 were made in Wake Forest in 2024, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program managed by states and financed through federal and state resources, provides coverage for people with low incomes, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It ranks among the largest components of the U.S. health care system.

Because taxpayer funding supports Medicaid, changes in local billing demonstrate how public health resources are distributed within communities.

For this report, COVID-19–related services were counted using HCPCS codes marked or recognized as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”-related per billing descriptions or reference datasets. These figures capture only services clearly labeled as COVID-related in billing data, which excludes pandemic care billed under general or differently designated codes.

As a reference point, Charlotte logged the highest Medicaid payments for COVID-19 services in North Carolina in 2024, recording $2,373,883 in virus-specific claims.

Two providers in Wake Forest filed Medicaid claims for COVID-19–related services in 2024, with the COVID Specific code making up $4,071 of the total.

The average per-provider Medicaid payment for COVID-19–related services in Wake Forest was $2,125, which is lower than the state’s average of $37,126.

During the pandemic, COVID-19–specific services contributed to the visible growth in Medicaid spending within Wake Forest.

Across other types of claims, total Medicaid payments grew by $3,002,668 from 2020 to 2024, an increase of 27.7%.

In the two years before the pandemic, the annual average for Medicaid payments in Wake Forest was $9,322,524.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid outlays were about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, which was about 18% of all national health expenditures—up sharply from $613.5 billion in 2019, predating the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase, about 40%, was largely attributed to expanded enrollment and increased usage during and after the pandemic period.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration included major plans to reduce federal Medicaid contributions and alter the structure of the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years, introducing requirements and policies that may reduce support and coverage for certain enrollees. The changes are expected to shift additional costs to state governments and curb the expansion of federal Medicaid funding, even as the program continues to serve tens of millions of people nationwide.

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

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