Benton City Medicaid payments linked to National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies climb 3% in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Benton City reported $792,822 in billings for services grouped under the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies, based on figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. That total reflects a 3% gain over 2023, when $769,769 in claims were submitted for the same service group.

Medicaid is a state-run public health insurance program with funding shared by federal and state governments. It serves low-income people and families, seniors, children, and those with disabilities, making it one of the largest health care programs in the U.S.

Because Medicaid spending comes from taxpayers, variations in local billing levels demonstrate how health care dollars are distributed in a given area.

The “National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies” group represents an array of Medicaid-billed services categorized by care type, using standardized HCPCS and CPT code sets. In this report, each billing code was allocated to a single service category through consistent code prefixes and number ranges to analyze related services together, avoiding double counting and ensuring accurate rankings over different years.

Although Medicaid expenditures rose across several service categories, National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies accounted for the highest total Medicaid payments in Benton City for 2024.

Statewide in Washington, the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies category also ranked first in total Medicaid payments that year.

Across the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments tied to the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies group in Benton City grew by $180,409, or 29.5%. Spending increases accelerated in specific periods, highlighted by significant year-over-year rises in 2023 and 2022.

Medicaid spending for this category, while spread throughout Benton City, was largely focused in certain ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 99320 reached $792,822 in Medicaid payments for this service group. This single ZIP code represented 100% of the city’s Medicaid payments for the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies during the year.

Moreover, payments in this category were concentrated among a small number of specific billing codes.

For context, payments for this category in Benton City increased 3% from 2023 to 2024, surpassing the 1.5% growth measured across all Medicaid claims categories within the city for the same time frame.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid outlays reached an estimated $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up about 18% of total national health expenditures. That figure is up sharply from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This equates to approximately 40% growth over several years, largely due to increases in enrollment and utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures introduced under the Trump administration have contained major proposals to trim federal Medicaid funding and alter the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is forecast to slash federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years and add policies such as work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could reduce both coverage and funding for some recipients. These changes are expected to shift more cost responsibilities onto states and curb the pace of federal Medicaid expansion, even as the program continues to cover tens of millions nationwide.

Note: HCPCS codes are shown for context within the category. Category totals and rankings in this article are based on standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.

Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The source data can be found here.