Gallup Medicaid providers received at least $44,817 for COVID-19 care in 2024

Gallup saw a minimum of $44,817 in Medicaid payments for services billed under HCPCS codes directly linked to COVID-19 in 2024, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database.

Medicaid, administered by the states and backed by both state and federal funding, insures low-income people, children, seniors, and those with disabilities, making it a significant component of the U.S. health care system. For additional funding details, see the full explainer here.

Because Medicaid is funded by taxpayer dollars, shifts in local billing help reveal how public health care resources are distributed in a community.

COVID-19–related services for this analysis were identified via HCPCS codes classified or described as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”-related. As such, only services explicitly identified as COVID-19 in billing are included, and the numbers do not cover pandemic-era care billed under broader or unrelated codes.

In comparison, Albuquerque posted the state’s highest Medicaid total for COVID-19 services in 2024, with claims reaching $958,608.

Three providers in Gallup filed Medicaid claims for COVID-19–related services in 2024. Of these, the code labeled COVID Specific accounted for $42,783—the majority of the city’s virus-tagged Medicaid billing.

The average Medicaid payment for COVID-19–related service providers in Gallup stood at $14,939, which is below the New Mexico statewide average of $34,302.

COVID-19–specific services made up a substantial portion of Gallup’s Medicaid expenditure increase during the pandemic years.

Total Medicaid payments for all other types of claims climbed by $7,856,302 from 2020 to 2024, marking a 20.4% rise.

In the two years before the pandemic, Gallup’s average annual Medicaid payments were $34,343,753.

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

This rise represents an increase of around 40% over a few years, mostly due to expanded Medicaid rolls and greater use of services during and following the pandemic period.

Recent actions on the federal budget during the Trump administration have included major proposals targeting reductions to federal Medicaid support and modifying the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is projected to cut over $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending over the next decade and introduces measures such as work requirements and higher cost-sharing, changes that could affect coverage and funding for some recipients. These policies are expected to shift responsibilities to states and constrain federal Medicaid expansion despite the program’s continued coverage of tens of millions of Americans.

Note: Totals include only HCPCS codes designated expressly for COVID-19 services; figures do not represent every pandemic-related health care outlay.

This article’s reporting relies on information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. See the source data here.