Ely sees minimum of $2,056 in Medicaid COVID-19 payments for 2024

At least $2,056 was paid out by Medicaid in Ely for COVID-19–specific services in 2024, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database.

Medicaid, a major public health insurance initiative managed by states and funded through both federal and state resources, covers low-income adults and families, older adults, children, and individuals with disabilities, making it a central part of the nation’s health system.

Because taxpayer money finances Medicaid, trends in local billing reveal how public spending on health care is distributed within communities.

This analysis defined COVID-19–specific services as those with HCPCS codes labeled or identified as “COVID-19” or “coronavirus”-related, based on billing descriptions or reference datasets. Therefore, the payment totals here reflect only services explicitly labeled as COVID-related and do not account for other pandemic-driven care billed under more general service codes.

Las Vegas received the highest Medicaid payments for COVID-19–related care in Nevada in 2024, with $356,700 in claims connected to the virus.

William Bee Ririe Hospital was the sole provider filing COVID-19–specific Medicaid claims in Ely for 2024.

COVID-19–tagged services made up a significant portion of Medicaid’s spending growth in Ely during the pandemic.

Other Medicaid claim categories in Ely increased by $939,352 from 2020 to 2024, a gain of 65.4% over that period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, total federal and state Medicaid expenditures hit approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up about 18% of all U.S. health care spending. This was a sharp rise from around $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The roughly 40% growth over several years was fueled mainly by a surge in enrollment and increased usage during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget laws passed during the Trump administration have featured substantial proposals to cut federal Medicaid funding and change program structure. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is set to trim more than $1 trillion from federal Medicaid outlays over 10 years and introduce new requirements, such as work mandates and greater cost-sharing, which could reduce both coverage and funding for certain recipients. These adjustments are expected to shift more expenses to the states and slow the growth of federal support, even as Medicaid continues to serve tens of millions nationwide.

Note: Data includes only HCPCS codes specifically designated for COVID-19 services; totals do not represent all spending related to pandemic care.

The information in this report is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Source data is available here.