Onawa sees 1659.6% spike in Medicaid outlays for medical and surgical supplies in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Onawa billed a total of $3,959 for Medical And Surgical Supplies services, based on figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This sum represents a 1659.6% jump from 2023, when $225 was billed for those services.

Medicaid is a public insurance program administered by states and supported by both federal and state governments. It serves low-income populations, seniors, children and those with disabilities, making it one of the country’s primary health care programs.

Because Medicaid is funded by taxpayers, shifts in billing at the local level indicate how public health care funding is spent in specific areas.

The “Medical And Surgical Supplies” designation encompasses a segment of billed Medicaid services defined by care type, relying on standardized HCPCS and CPT code systems. For this study, each billing code was grouped under a single service line using consistent code patterns and ranges, ensuring that related services were collectively analyzed, preventing double counting, and maintaining accurate rankings through time.

While Medicaid expenditures rose across several service types, Medical And Surgical Supplies held the ninth spot in total Medicaid spending in Onawa for 2024.

Statewide, Iowa ranked Medical And Surgical Supplies as the 11th largest category for Medicaid spending in 2024.

Looking back over the five years before 2024, Onawa’s Medicaid payments for Medical And Surgical Supplies climbed by $2,173, or 121.7%. The pace of spending growth increased during some intervals, with significant year-over-year gains seen in 2020 and 2022.

Though Medical And Surgical Supplies services were utilized throughout Onawa, the bulk of the payments were focused in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, Medicaid payments for Medical And Surgical Supplies in ZIP code 51040 reached $3,959. This top ZIP code was responsible for 100% of related Medicaid payments in Onawa that year.

Within this category, most Medicaid spending centered on a limited selection of billing codes.

To put this in perspective, the 1659.6% jump in Onawa’s Medicaid spending for Medical And Surgical Supplies between 2024 and 2023 far outpaced the broader 18.2% increase across all Medicaid service categories in the city over the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined Medicaid funding from federal and state sources totaled approximately $871.7 billion in 2023’s fiscal year. This represented about 18% of all national health expenses, up considerably from the $613.5 billion spent in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This change marks about 40% growth in a short span, mainly attributed to increased enrollment and greater service use throughout and after the pandemic period.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration have featured major proposals to shrink federal Medicaid funding and modify the structure of the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed in 2025, is expected to trim more than $1 trillion from federal Medicaid spending in the coming decade and brings changes like work requirements and higher cost-sharing, which could reduce benefits and funding for some recipients. These adjustments are anticipated to shift extra financial responsibility to state governments and may restrain federal Medicaid funding growth, even as millions of Americans remain enrolled.

Note: HCPCS codes are provided for reference within the overall category. In this article, category totals and rankings use standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.

Data for this story comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. You can access the original data here.