Red Lodge Medicaid COVID-19 billing reached $538 in 2024

In Red Lodge, Medicaid payments amounted to at least $538 in 2024 for services billed under HCPCS codes specifically tied to COVID-19, based on information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program managed by individual states and financed collaboratively by federal and state governments, serves low-income residents, elderly adults, children, and people with disabilities. This makes Medicaid a significant component of the U.S. health care system.

Because tax dollars fund Medicaid payments, trends in local billing demonstrate how community resources are distributed for public health care.

For this analysis, the identification of COVID-19–related services was based on HCPCS codes with billing descriptions or reference data classifying them as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”-related. Therefore, the reported numbers reflect only those services directly marked as COVID-related and do not include any pandemic-related care billed under broader medical codes.

In Montana, Great Falls saw the highest Medicaid payments for COVID-19 services in 2024, recording $26,944 in claims for virus-related care.

Only Memorial Hospital Association filed Medicaid claims for COVID-19–related services in Red Lodge during 2024, according to the data.

Across all other Medicaid claim categories, payments rose by $24,434 from 2020 to 2024, which is an increase of 141.4%.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data shows combined federal and state Medicaid spending hit approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This represented nearly 18% of total national health expenses, rising sharply from around $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak.

This marks an increase of about 40% within a few years, largely attributed to higher enrollment and increased service use during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws under the Trump administration have proposed major reductions in federal Medicaid funding and changes to the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed in 2025, is expected to cut more than $1 trillion from federal Medicaid spending over the coming decade, adding policies like work requirements and higher cost-sharing. These changes could decrease coverage for some and place greater cost responsibility on states, while Medicaid still covers tens of millions of Americans.

Note: Figures reflect only HCPCS codes specifically labeled for COVID-19 services; totals do not include all pandemic-related health spending.

The data referenced in this story comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database, which is available here.