Fresno Medicaid anesthesia payments climb to $5,031,569 in 2024

Fresno Medicaid providers billed $5,031,569 for anesthesia services in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represented an 84.2% increase compared with 2023, when the total was $2,731,810 for services in this category.

Medicaid operates as a public insurance program administered by states and jointly funded by federal and state governments, serving low-income individuals and families, seniors, children and people with disabilities. It remains one of the largest components of the U.S. health care system.

Because taxpayer funding supports Medicaid payments, shifts in local billing highlight how public health dollars are distributed within a community.

The “Anesthesia” category organizes Medicaid-billed services by care type, using standard HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this study, analysts assigned each billing code to a single category with uniform prefixes and numerical ranges, which allowed consistent review of related services without double counting and preserved ranking accuracy over time.

While multiple Medicaid service categories experienced growth, anesthesia ranked ninth by total Medicaid payments in Fresno in 2024.

Across California, the anesthesia category held the eighth position by total Medicaid payment statewide in 2024.

During the five years prior to 2024, Fresno Medicaid payments for anesthesia increased by $2,721,611, a 117.8% rise. Growth accelerated during various periods, with substantial jumps in 2022 and 2023.

Although anesthesia-related care payments spanned the city, the majority was concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP codes 93721, 93720 and 93711 recorded $3,056,468, $810,391 and $627,644 in Medicaid anesthesia payments, respectively. Combined, these top three ZIP codes represented 89.3% of Fresno’s Medicaid anesthesia payments for the year.

Within the anesthesia category, a small number of specific billing codes received the bulk of Medicaid payments.

For comparison, Medicaid anesthesia payments in Fresno increased 84.2% between 2024 and 2023; by contrast, all Medicaid claim categories in the city rose 13.6% in the same comparison.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data show combined federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion for the 2023 fiscal year, comprising around 18% of national health spending—up significantly from $613.5 billion in 2019, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This change shows nearly 40% overall growth in just a few years, largely influenced by enrollment increases and greater health care utilization during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures signed into law under the Trump administration proposed major decreases in federal Medicaid support and changes to program structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over 10 years and introduce such provisions as work requirements and higher cost-sharing. This could reduce coverage and funding for some groups, shift more costs to states, and limit federal Medicaid growth, even as the program continues serving tens of millions of Americans.

Note: HCPCS codes are provided for reference within the category. Totals and rankings referenced in this article are based on grouped service categories rather than individual codes.

Details in this article are from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. Source data is available here.