Richmond Medicaid COVID-19 payments reached $1,307,411 in 2024, driven by spike over prior year

Providers in Richmond billed at least $1,307,411 to Medicaid in 2024 for services associated with COVID-19 HCPCS codes, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This marked an increase of 1,200.8% compared to 2023, when claims using those codes totaled $100,512.

Medicaid operates as a public health insurance program administered by states and funded through a partnership of federal and state resources. It supports low-income individuals, families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities, making it a significant part of the U.S. health care landscape.

Because public funds support Medicaid, fluctuations in local billing patterns reveal how community health care dollars are used.

For this review, COVID-19 services were identified by use of HCPCS codes described or referenced as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”-related within billing records. Only claims explicitly tagged as COVID-related are represented; services billed under more generalized codes are not included.

By way of comparison, San Jose had the state’s largest total for Medicaid claims associated with COVID-19 in 2024, reporting $5,601,479 in virus-related charges.

In Richmond, three separate providers billed Medicaid for COVID-19–specific services during 2024. The most commonly used code, COVID-19 Vaccine Administration, represented $1,293,750 of the sum.

To illustrate, the average Medicaid COVID-19–linked payment per provider in Richmond came to $435,804, which is higher than the California average of $52,976.

COVID-19–specific claims contributed to a significant rise in Medicaid spending in Richmond during the height of the pandemic.

Total Medicaid spending for all other services grew by $57,742,496 between 2020 and 2024, a 156.5% increase.

In the two years right before the pandemic emergency, Richmond’s average yearly Medicaid payment stood at $37,442,881.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending totaled around $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023, making up roughly 18% of all national health expenses, up from about $613.5 billion in 2019, before the pandemic.

This growth amounts to a near 40% climb over just a few years, driven mainly by expanded rolls and increased use of benefits during and after the pandemic period.

Federal budget measures signed into law during the Trump administration have outlined deep planned reductions to federal Medicaid contributions and program restructuring. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, calls for over $1 trillion in federal cuts in the coming 10 years and features new requirements around work and higher cost-sharing, which could limit access and resources for certain recipients. These policy shifts are projected to increase financial responsibility for individual states, potentially curbing overall federal growth in Medicaid even while the program continues to enrol millions nationwide.

Note: Includes HCPCS codes explicitly labeled for COVID-19 services; totals do not represent all pandemic-related health care spending.

Data for this report was drawn from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Find the original data here.