Does Medicare Cover Wheelchair Transportation?

What Medicare does cover: ambulance transportation

Medicare Part B covers ground ambulance transportation when you need medical care on the way and traveling in any other vehicle could endanger your health. Medicare’s rules include these points:

• Emergencies are covered to the nearest appropriate medical facility.
• Non-emergency ambulance trips may be covered with a written order from your doctor stating the ambulance is medically necessary. An example is a rider who is confined to bed and can’t sit in a chair or wheelchair.
• You pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible.

The details are on Medicare’s ambulance services page. Medicare’s own manual is plain that it does not cover non-ambulance transportation such as a wheelchair van or a stretcher van.

Wheelchair van, stretcher van or ambulance: which do you need?

• Wheelchair van: the rider can sit in a wheelchair for the trip and needs no medical care on the way. This is most rides to dialysis, therapy, specialist visits and discharges home.
• Stretcher van: the rider can’t sit upright safely for the trip but is stable and needs no monitoring. Two crew run the trip bed to bed.
• Ambulance: the rider needs oxygen titration, cardiac monitoring, IV care or other medical care during the trip, or is unstable. That is a medical trip, and it is the kind Medicare may cover.

If you are not sure, ask the discharge planner or the doctor’s office which level the rider needs. We run wheelchair, stretcher, ambulatory and bariatric trips. We don’t provide medical care on board, and we never take anyone to an emergency room.

Ways to pay for a wheelchair or stretcher van

Medicare Advantage. Many Medicare Advantage plans add a transportation benefit, usually a set number of trips a year. See our Medicare Advantage transportation guide for how to check and how to request H&M Transport.

Medicaid. Riders with Medicaid, including those with both Medicare and Medicaid, get non-emergency rides through Medicaid. In Virginia, call the transportation number on your Medicaid ID card; the brokers we work with are MTM Health and SafeRide Health. Request H&M Transport specifically when you book your ride. See our Virginia Medicaid transportation guide.

Facilities. Hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, dialysis centers and hospices often arrange and pay for transfers. They book on contracted rates through our facilities page.

Private pay. When a ride is not covered, or the plan cannot schedule it in time, families can book H&M Transport directly at our published rates. Wheelchair trips start at $55 per leg on a round trip and stretcher trips at $230 per leg, the same in Virginia, Maryland and DC. No doctor’s order is needed for a private-pay ride. See our private-pay guide or the full rates page.

What a private-pay wheelchair ride costs

These are our 2026 private-pay rates, the same in Virginia, Maryland and DC:

A ten-mile round trip in a wheelchair van is $55 plus five extra miles at $3.00 on each leg, so $70 each way and $140 in total. A ten-mile stretcher discharge is $260 plus $40, so $300. See all add-ons on our rates page.

Common questions

Does Medicare pay for wheelchair transportation?

No. Original Medicare does not cover wheelchair vans. It covers ambulance transport when other transportation could endanger your health.

Does Medicare cover stretcher van transportation?

No. A stretcher van is not an ambulance. Medicare may cover a non-emergency ambulance with a written order from your doctor when it is medically necessary.

Does Medicare Advantage cover rides to appointments?

Some plans do, as an optional extra benefit with a set number of trips a year. Check your Evidence of Coverage or call the plan.

I have Medicare and Medicaid. Are my rides covered?

Yes, through Medicaid, when the trip is to a covered service and you have no other way to get there.

How much is a wheelchair van without insurance?

With H&M Transport, a round trip is $55 per leg with five miles included each way, plus $3.00 per additional mile. A ten-mile round trip is $140.

Do I need a doctor’s order for a private-pay ride?

No. A private-pay wheelchair or stretcher ride with H&M Transport needs no doctor’s order.

What we don’t do

H&M Transport runs non-emergency medical transportation. There is no medical care or monitoring on board, we never take anyone to an emergency room, and we do not move patients between hospitals for a higher level of care. We do run scheduled, stable transfers between facilities, such as hospital to rehab or to a nursing home. If a rider becomes unwell during a trip, the driver stops safely and calls 911. In an emergency, call 911.