Medicaid payments for COVID-19 services in Bellingham reach $181,689 in 2024

At least $181,689 in Medicaid payments were made in Bellingham in 2024 for services billed under HCPCS codes specifically related to COVID-19, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database.

Medicaid, a public health insurance initiative jointly funded by the states and the federal government, provides coverage for low-income populations as well as seniors, children and those with disabilities. This makes it a major component of the U.S. health care system, with shared federal and state funding.

Since taxpayer funds support Medicaid payments, community-level fluctuations in billing give insight into local public health funding allocation.

This analysis identified services as COVID-19-related if their HCPCS codes were flagged as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”-associated in billing references or descriptions. The numbers outlined include only services directly tagged as COVID-related and do not account for care that may be connected to the pandemic but billed under broader or different medical codes.

By comparison, Seattle posted the highest Medicaid payments tied to COVID-19 services within Washington in 2024, reporting $461,706 in virus-related spending.

Within Bellingham, five providers filed Medicaid claims categorized as COVID-19–related in 2024. The code listed as COVID Specific represented $174,981 of that total.

The average Medicaid payment per Bellingham provider for pandemic-related services was $36,338—considerably above the statewide average of $18,594.

COVID-19–specific services contributed significantly to the rise in Medicaid spending in Bellingham throughout the pandemic period.

Other Medicaid payment categories saw an increase of $11,508,631 from 2020 through 2024—a 26.4% rise over that time.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, accounting for roughly 18% of national health expenditures—including a steep increase from $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The roughly 40% climb was fueled by broader Medicaid enrollment and increased use during and following the height of the pandemic.

Federal budget legislation approved during the Trump presidency included measures to significantly reduce future Medicaid funding and restructure the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to decrease federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion across the coming decade, ushering in policies like work requirements and expanded cost-sharing that may reduce coverage or funding for some Medicaid recipients. These policy shifts could transfer more costs to states and curb the rate of federal spending growth even as millions continue to use the program.

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

Material in this report was sourced from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Source dataset is available here.