Golden’s Medicaid payouts for National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies increase 54.8% in 2024

In 2024, Golden’s Medicaid providers submitted $14,745,100 in claims for services within the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies category, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This represents a 54.8% jump from 2023, when claims in the same category totaled $9,526,193.

Medicaid, a government health insurance program operated by states and financed through federal and state funding, serves low-income people and families, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities, making it one of the primary components of the U.S. health system.

Because Medicaid dollars are taxpayer-funded, shifts in local billing highlight how community public health care money is distributed.

The “National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies” category includes a set of Medicaid-billed services based on the type of care, grouped by standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. For this report, each billing code was matched to one service category using consistent prefixes and numeric guidelines. This approach allows related services to be analyzed together, prevents double counting, and maintains precise category rankings over time.

Among all Medicaid service categories, National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies received the highest Medicaid payments in Golden in 2024.

Across Colorado, this category also topped the list for Medicaid payment totals in 2024.

From 2019 through 2024, Golden’s Medicaid payments for the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies increased by $11,541,569, or 360.3%. Certain years, including 2020 and 2022, saw especially large annual increases.

Medicaid payments in this category, while made broadly across Golden, were heavily focused in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, 80401 saw $14,152,968 and 80403 received $592,131 in Medicaid payments under this category. Combined, these 2 ZIP codes accounted for all Medicaid payments in Golden within this group for the year.

The National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies category in Golden also saw Medicaid payments concentrated in a small set of billing codes.

By comparison, Medicaid payments for this category in Golden went up 54.8% from 2023 to 2024, versus a 36.3% change across all city Medicaid claim categories over the period.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that federal and state Medicaid spending totaled about $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023, making up roughly 18% of all national health expenditures and rising sharply from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This marks near 40% growth over a few years, largely attributed to both enrollment expansion and increased utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws under the Trump administration have included major proposals to cut federal Medicaid funding and alter the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years and bring in policies like work requirements and higher cost-sharing, potentially reducing both coverage and funding for certain users. These measures are anticipated to shift more expenses to states and curb the rate of federal Medicaid support, even as the program continues to aid 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.