Prairieville logs $115,089 in Medicaid claims for COVID-19 services in 2024

Prairieville’s Medicaid expenditures reached at least $115,089 in 2024 for services using HCPCS codes specifically linked to COVID-19, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program, is managed by the states and funded jointly by state and federal governments. The program serves low-income individuals and families, the elderly, children, and people with disabilities, ranking among the largest components of health care in the U.S.

Since Medicaid uses taxpayer funding, adjustments in local billing levels reflect how public health care dollars are spent in each area.

This analysis defined COVID-19–linked services by referencing HCPCS codes tagged “COVID-19” or “coronavirus” within billing descriptions or related datasets. Therefore, the numbers only account for care clearly identified as COVID-specific in the records and may miss pandemic-related services filed under general or other medical codes.

As a point of comparison, New Orleans saw the highest total in Louisiana for Medicaid payments sought for COVID-19 services in 2024, accumulating $1,432,965 in related claims.

Only Lake Urgent Care Ascension LLC filed Medicaid claims for COVID-19–specific services in Prairieville in 2024, according to the database.

Medicaid spending in Prairieville rose notably during the pandemic years as COVID-19 direct services contributed significantly to spending increases.

Across other categories, Medicaid payments climbed by $1,730,550 from 2020 to 2024, representing a 99.4% rise.

The average yearly Medicaid payments in the two years before the pandemic were $1,955,567 in Prairieville.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending collectively totaled approximately $871.7 billion for the 2023 fiscal year, which matches about 18% of all national health spending, rising significantly from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

This change is an increase of about 40% within just a few years, attributed mainly to broader enrollment and greater use of services both during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal legislation initiated under the Trump administration has included major proposals aimed at reducing federal Medicaid investment and reorganizing the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” approved in 2025, is expected to decrease federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion in the next 10 years and introduces policy shifts such as work requirements and increased participant cost-sharing, potentially impacting coverage and federal funding for some groups. These modifications may result in higher cost burdens for states and restrict federal Medicaid growth, even as tens of millions of Americans continue to rely on the program.

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

Details for this report originated from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Source material is available here.