Medicaid spending on radiology procedures climbs 6.9% in Chalmette in 2024

In 2024, providers in Chalmette billed $278,123 to Medicaid for services under the Radiology Procedures category, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This was a 6.9% uptick from 2023, when $260,277 in claims were reported for this type of service.

Medicaid is an insurance program managed by states and backed financially by both federal and state governments. It provides coverage for low-income residents, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities, making it one of the main components of the U.S. health system.

Because Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, updated billing amounts reflect how a community’s public health dollars are spent and allocated locally.

The Radiology Procedures group represents Medicaid-billed services organized by type of care provided, using standardized HCPCS and CPT coding prefixes and numeric ranges. For this data review, each billing code was linked to a specific service group with consistent code assignments, allowing various related services to be monitored together, minimize double counting, and preserve ranking accuracy over time.

Even as Medicaid expenditures grew across multiple service categories, Radiology Procedures ranked eighth by total payment in Chalmette for 2024.

Statewide, the Radiology Procedures group also placed eighth by total Medicaid spending in Louisiana in 2024.

Over the five years prior to 2024, Medicaid spending in Chalmette tied to Radiology Procedures expanded by $187,098, or 205.5%. Growth was fastest at certain intervals, with notable year-over-year jumps seen in 2022 and 2021.

While these health services were delivered in various areas of Chalmette, Medicaid payments remained concentrated in just a few ZIP codes. For 2024, payments mostly went to ZIP code 70043, which accounted for $278,122. This represented 100% of all Medicaid payments for Radiology Procedures in the city that year.

Within the category, Medicaid payments were focused on a limited list of individual billing codes.

During this period, Medicaid payments linked to Radiology Procedures in Chalmette increased 6.9% from 2023 to 2024, while overall Medicaid claims in the city grew by 15% across all categories.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures totaled about $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023, representing around 18% of the nation’s health spending—a jump from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This jump marks approximately 40% growth over a few years, primarily because of more people enrolling and increased use during and after COVID-19 emergency conditions.

Recent federal budget changes under the Trump administration have included significant Medicaid funding cuts and proposals to restructure the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” approved in 2025, is forecast to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, adopting new policies—such as work requirements and cost-sharing increases—that could impact beneficiary coverage. As a result, more expenses may shift to states, limiting the pace of federal Medicaid support growth even as millions continue to rely on the program.

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.