Vernon sees $269,211 in 2024 Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Vernon submitted $269,211 in claims for Medicine Services and Procedures, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represents a 23.8% jump from 2023, when $217,454 was billed for the same category.

Medicaid, a government health insurance program managed by the states and financed by both federal and state governments, provides coverage to low-income people, seniors, children, and those with disabilities, making it a key component of the U.S. health care landscape.

Because Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, variations in local billing illustrate how public health resources are distributed within communities.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” group consists of Medicaid services categorized by type of care, based on standard HCPCS and CPT coding. In this report, billing codes were consistently grouped into service categories using specific prefixes and number ranges. This ensured no double counting and allowed accurate tracking of service trends over time.

While Medicaid expenditures grew across several categories in Vernon, Medicine Services and Procedures placed second for total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Statewide in Arizona, Medicine Services and Procedures ranked fifth in total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Over the past five years through 2024, Medicaid payments connected to the Medicine Services and Procedures category in Vernon climbed by $269,211, or 0%. Increases in spending accelerated at times, with noticeable year-over-year growth in 2023 and 2022.

Though these spending levels covered services provided throughout Vernon, most payments were focused in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, the highest Medicaid payments for this category were in ZIP code 85940 with $269,211. The top 1 ZIP code contributed 100% of the city’s Medicaid spending for this category in that year.

Within the Medicine Services and Procedures category, payments were also centered on a small selection of billing codes.

Comparatively, Medicaid payments for Medicine Services and Procedures in Vernon rose 23.8% from 2023 to 2024, while total Medicaid claims across all service categories in the city went up 27.3% during the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending totaled about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023. This made up around 18% of national health spending, a sharp increase from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This surge represents about 40% growth in just a few years, largely driven by higher enrollment and utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures enacted under the Trump administration have introduced major proposals for federal Medicaid funding reductions and program restructuring. One example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is expected to cut over $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending over 10 years. New policies include work requirements and greater cost-sharing, potentially reducing coverage and limiting funding for some. These changes are anticipated to shift higher costs to states and slow federal Medicaid growth, even as tens of millions of people continue to depend on the program.

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.