El Monte sees at least $4,639 in Medicaid payments for COVID-19 services in 2024

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database, Medicaid spending in El Monte in 2024 reached at least $4,639 for services billed under HCPCS codes directly linked to COVID-19.

Medicaid is administered by individual states but funded in partnership by federal and state governments. Covering low-income families and individuals, seniors, children and people with disabilities, the program is one of the biggest components of the U.S. health care system.

Since taxpayer dollars fund Medicaid, local billing trends reveal how public health care resources are distributed in a given community.

This report identifies COVID-19–related Medicaid services using HCPCS codes that are either labeled or categorized as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus” in billing records or supporting data. Due to this method, totals only reflect services directly identified as COVID-specific and may not account for pandemic-related care billed differently.

Comparatively, San Jose led California in 2024 for total Medicaid payments connected to COVID-19 services, reaching $5,601,479 in virus-related claims.

In El Monte, five providers submitted Medicaid claims for COVID-19–linked services in 2024. The code “COVID Specific” made up $2,360 of total virus-related claims, ranking as one of the top codes billed.

The average Medicaid payment per provider in El Monte for these services was $928, below the California average of $52,976.

COVID-19–specific services contributed significantly to Medicaid spending growth in El Monte throughout the pandemic period.

Total Medicaid payments for all other service categories grew by $3,580,350 between 2020 and 2024, an increase of 10.9% compared to earlier years.

In the two years immediately before the pandemic began, El Monte’s annual average Medicaid payments stood at $33,751,218.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures totaled about $871.7 billion in the 2023 fiscal year, which was roughly 18% of total U.S. health spending and up sharply from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

This rise amounts to an estimated 40% growth in several years, reflecting increasing enrollment and greater utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget actions under the Trump administration proposed the most significant reductions to federal Medicaid funding and substantial restructuring. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which was enacted in 2025, projects over $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending cuts across the next ten years and adds measures such as work requirements and higher cost-sharing—changes that could reduce benefits for certain recipients. These measures will likely shift a greater share of responsibility to states and could limit federal Medicaid funding increases, even as the program continues to cover tens of millions of Americans.

Note: Totals include only HCPCS codes expressly identified for COVID-19 services and do not cover all pandemic-related health expenditures.

This report uses information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Detailed data are available here.