Choteau sees 41.2% rise in Medicaid spending for pathology and laboratory procedures in 2024

In 2024, Choteau Medicaid providers billed $1,031 for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures, as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This amounted to a 41.2% increase over 2023, when claims in this category totaled $730.

Medicaid, a government insurance program managed by states and funded with support from both federal and state governments, provides coverage for low-income groups, seniors, children, and those with disabilities. It is one of the largest components of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid funding is derived from taxpayers, fluctuations in local billing offer insight into allocation of public health care funds in Choteau.

The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” classification is made up of Medicaid services grouped by the kind of care delivered and sorted based on standard HCPCS and CPT code clusters. This analysis assigned each billing code to a single service class using code prefixes and number ranges to examine related services together, prevent double counting, and maintain precise rankings over time.

Although several Medicaid service categories saw increased payments, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures finished fifth by total Medicaid spending in Choteau during 2024.

Statewide in Montana, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures stood eighth based on total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Over five years leading up to 2024, Choteau’s Medicaid payments in the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures group rose $744, or 41.9%. Increases were particularly strong year to year in 2021 and 2022.

Spending across Choteau for this service class showed that payments concentrated heavily in just a few ZIP codes. The highest Medicaid payments tied to Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in 2024 occurred in ZIP code 59422, where claims reached $1,030. That ZIP accounted for 100% of Medicaid spending in the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category in Choteau during the year.

Medicaid payments within the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures group were also largely concentrated among just a few individual procedure codes.

When looking at the rate of change, Medicaid payments for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures services in Choteau climbed 41.2% from 2023 to 2024, outpacing the 11.2% overall increase across all Medicaid claim groups in the city during the same period.

Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services data indicates that combined state and federal Medicaid expenditures reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, representing around 18% of national health spending, and up significantly from $613.5 billion in 2019, before COVID-19.

This surge reflects near 40% growth in just a few years, spurred mostly by an uptick in enrollment and service use both during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration have put forward substantial cuts and restructuring to federal Medicaid support. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is forecast to reduce federal Medicaid expenditures by over $1 trillion over 10 years. The act also adds policies like work requirements and increased cost-sharing, which may decrease funding and coverage for certain beneficiaries. These adjustments are expected to transfer more financial obligation to the states and narrow the growth of federal Medicaid funding, but the program will continue to serve millions nationwide.

Note: HCPCS codes are provided to illustrate the category. Totals and rankings cited are calculated based on the broader, standardized service groupings, rather than by individual billing code.

All data in this article was sourced from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The original dataset is available here.