Barnwell Medicaid payments for National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies top $8 million in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Barnwell billed $8,024,726 for services under the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies category, according to data reported in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This reflects an increase of 14.9% from 2023, when claims for this service category totaled $6,984,523.

Medicaid, administered by the states and funded through both federal and state sources, provides health coverage for low-income individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It remains a major component of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid payments rely on taxpayer funds, fluctuations in local billing help illustrate how communities allocate public health care financing.

The “National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies” group designates Medicaid-billed services grouped by their care type, organized by specific HCPCS and CPT coding structures. For this report, billing codes were sorted into a single category based on shared prefixes and numerical codes, letting related services be tracked together and ensuring accuracy in trends and rankings.

National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies led all Medicaid service categories in Barnwell by total payments in 2024, alongside growth seen across several categories.

Across South Carolina, this service group also accounted for the highest statewide Medicaid spending in 2024.

Between the five years ending in 2024, Barnwell’s Medicaid payments for this category rose by $7,140,988 or 808%. Some years, including 2022 and 2020, saw even sharper annual increases, indicating periods of accelerated growth.

Payments for these services were distributed throughout Barnwell but concentrated in select ZIP codes. In 2024, all Medicaid spending for this category was attributed to ZIP code 29812, which reached $8,024,726. That locality represented 100% of Medicaid payments for the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies category in the city this year.

Within the broader service group, most Medicaid payments went to a limited set of billing codes.

For context, Medicaid spending tied to this category in Barnwell grew by 14.9% between 2024 and 2023, while total Medicaid claims of all kinds in the city saw a 4.1% rise in the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, total combined Medicaid expenditures from both federal and state sources reached roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This sum equated to about 18% of the nation’s health care spending and is up substantially from the $613.5 billion recorded in 2019, prior to COVID-19.

This spike marks a growth of approximately 40% over just a few years, driven in large part by expanded enrollment and greater use of services during and after the COVID era.

Recent federal budget measures from the Trump administration have proposed major reductions to federal Medicaid funding and efforts to restructure the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to cut over $1 trillion in federal spending over the coming decade. Among its provisions are work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could restrict coverage and federal dollars for certain groups, shifting greater financial responsibility to states even as Medicaid continues to serve 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.