Kensington Medicaid COVID-19 claims total at least $18,604 in 2024, less than 0.1% of spending

In 2024, Medicaid payments for services in Kensington billed with HCPCS codes that are specifically linked to COVID-19 reached at least $18,604, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database.

Medicaid, one of the nation’s major public health insurance programs, is administered by individual states and funded by both federal and state governments. It provides coverage to low-income people, families, seniors, children and those with disabilities, making it a central part of the U.S. health care landscape.

Because taxpayer money funds Medicaid, trends in local billing highlight how public health care spending is distributed within communities.

The analysis focused on services identified through HCPCS codes marked as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”–related in billing or reference data. This means the totals reflect only the services explicitly recorded as COVID-related and do not include health care tied to the pandemic that was billed under more general or alternate codes.

By comparison, Rockville had Maryland’s highest total for Medicaid payments linked to COVID-19 services in 2024, with $430,231 in virus-related claims.

Within Kensington, two providers billed Medicaid for COVID-19–related services in 2024. The most substantial code billed was COVID Specific, which made up $15,604 of the total.

To provide perspective, the average per-provider Medicaid payment for COVID-19–linked services in Kensington was $9,302, which is less than the Maryland average of $24,157.

During the pandemic years, Kensington saw COVID-19–specific services contribute noticeably to an increase in Medicaid spending.

Total Medicaid payments across other types of claims rose by $6,869,661 from 2020 to 2024, an increase of 85.2%.

In the two years before the pandemic timeframe, annual average Medicaid payments in Kensington were $1,427,666.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending combined reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, representing about 18% of total U.S. health expenditures. This was a sizable increase from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This represents almost 40% growth within just a few years, primarily due to increased enrollment and higher use during and after the pandemic period.

Recent federal budget measures during the Trump administration have introduced major proposals to scale back federal Medicaid funding and revise the structure of the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid support by over $1 trillion over the next decade and includes initiatives such as work requirements and greater cost-sharing, potentially cutting coverage and payments for certain groups. These changes may lead to states shouldering more expenses and could constrain the growth of federal Medicaid support, though the program will still serve tens of millions of Americans.

Note: Totals reflect only HCPCS codes specifically identified as COVID-19 services; they do not represent all health care spending linked to the pandemic.

Information for this article comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The full dataset can be accessed here.