Medicaid spending linked to National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies jumps 91.1% in Milwaukee in 2024

Milwaukee Medicaid providers filed claims totaling $90,019,610 in 2024 for services associated with the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies category, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending data. This amount represented a 91.1% rise compared with 2023, when $47,116,944 was billed for the same services.

Medicaid is a state-run public health insurance program, with funding provided by both the federal and state governments. It serves low-income individuals, families, seniors, children and people with disabilities, making it a major component of health coverage in the United States.

Since Medicaid is financed with taxpayer money, increased local billing levels highlight shifts in how community health resources are used.

The National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies category includes a set of Medicaid-billed services identified by care type, defined through standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. Each billing code was classified to one service grouping for this review, using code prefixes and numeric designations, enabling related services to be analyzed together while avoiding double counting and keeping rankings consistent over time.

Despite overall Medicaid spending growth in several service categories, National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies placed second among all Milwaukee Medicaid payments in 2024.

This category was ranked first by payment volume statewide in Wisconsin for 2024.

From 2020 to 2024, Milwaukee Medicaid spending in this category increased by $51,904,444, or 136.2%. Spending rose more rapidly during certain years, with strong year-over-year jumps noted in 2021 and 2022.

Within Milwaukee, spending in this service category was distributed throughout the city, but most payments were concentrated in a small set of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 53203 received $54,657,298, 53226 saw $6,125,736, and 53205 reported $4,730,934. Combined, the top 3 ZIP codes made up 72.8% of all Medicaid dollars paid for services in this category across Milwaukee during 2024.

Among these services, Medicaid expenditures were clustered around a handful of specific billing codes.

With a 91.1% year-over-year rise in Medicaid payments for National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies services between 2024 and 2023, this outpaced the 0.4% change seen across all Medicaid claim categories in Milwaukee during the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, total federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up around 18% of national health expenditures—an increase from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This jump is an increase of about 40% in only a few years, mostly driven by higher enrollment and utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget legislation enacted during the Trump administration has included major proposals to reduce federal funding and change Medicaid’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed in 2025, is expected to cut more than $1 trillion from federal Medicaid funding over the next 10 years and introduces new work requirements and higher cost-sharing that could limit coverage and support for some eligible individuals. These measures are anticipated to shift greater cost responsibility to states and curb the growth of federal funding for Medicaid, even as the program remains a key form of coverage for millions of Americans.

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.