Medicare Advantage Transportation: Does Your Plan Cover Rides?

Does my Medicare Advantage plan cover transportation?

Look in three places, in this order:

1. The Evidence of Coverage. The plan sends it every fall, and it lists supplemental benefits. Search it for “transportation” or “rides”.
2. The Summary of Benefits. This is a shorter version that usually shows the number of trips a year and any mileage limit.
3. The member services number on your card. Ask three questions: how many one-way trips you have left this year, whether wheelchair vans are included, and who arranges the rides.

Benefits vary. Many plans cover a fixed number of one-way trips a year to doctors, the pharmacy or other plan-approved locations, and some set a mileage limit. Some plans cover only car rides; others include wheelchair vans. Benefits change every January, so check again at the start of each year.

How to book a Medicare Advantage ride with H&M Transport

1. Call the number your plan gives for transportation. Plans often use a broker to take ride requests.
2. Ask whether the broker is MTM Health or SafeRide Health. Those are the brokers we work with, including for Medicare Advantage plans.
3. Request H&M Transport by name and tell the broker if the rider needs a wheelchair van, oxygen or help with steps.
4. Book early. Plans usually ask for several days of notice for routine trips.

If your plan uses a different broker, it will assign the ride within its own network. We can still take the trip as a private-pay booking.

Medicare and Medicaid together (dual eligible)

If you have both Medicare and Medicaid, non-emergency rides are a Medicaid benefit. Medicare Advantage transportation, if your plan has it, is extra on top.

In Virginia, dual-eligible members in a dual special needs plan (D-SNP) are enrolled in the same company’s Medicaid plan. Virginia’s D-SNPs are offered by Aetna, Anthem, Humana, Sentara and UnitedHealthcare. For a Medicaid ride, use the Medicaid transportation number:

• Anthem members’ Medicaid rides go through MTM Health; see Anthem HealthKeepers Plus transportation.
• UnitedHealthcare members’ Medicaid rides go through SafeRide Health; see UnitedHealthcare Community Plan transportation.

Our Virginia Medicaid transportation guide covers the rest, and DC and Maryland work differently.

When your plan doesn’t cover the ride

Some riders use up their plan’s trips before the year ends, or have a plan that covers car rides only. Some need a ride the plan can’t schedule in time, such as a discharge.

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.

Discharges. A hospital discharge home is the most common trip a plan can’t schedule on short notice. We need three hours notice, and hospitals can book on contracted rates through our facilities page.

Ambulance. If the rider needs medical care or monitoring during the trip, that is an ambulance trip, which Medicare Part B may cover when it is medically necessary. See does Medicare cover wheelchair transportation.

What the ride looks like

Every trip is door-through-door. A wheelchair rider stays in the chair; it goes up a ramp on our minivans or a hydraulic lift on our full-size vans and is secured at four points. Stretcher trips run bed to bed with two crew. Every driver is CPR and first-aid certified, and a family member or caregiver can usually ride along; tell us when you book.

Common questions

Does Medicare Advantage cover wheelchair transportation?

Some plans do, as an optional supplemental benefit, usually a set number of trips a year. Check your Evidence of Coverage or call member services.

How do I get H&M Transport through my Medicare Advantage plan?

If your plan’s ride benefit is administered by MTM Health or SafeRide Health, book through the plan and request H&M Transport by name.

Do Medicare Advantage ride benefits change each year?

Yes. Plans can change supplemental benefits every January, so check the new Evidence of Coverage each fall.

I have Medicare and Medicaid. Who pays for my rides?

Medicaid covers non-emergency medical rides for dual-eligible members. Use the transportation number for your Medicaid plan.

What if I’ve used up my plan’s rides?

Book H&M Transport directly. Wheelchair trips start at $55 per leg on a round trip, and no doctor’s order is needed.

Does Original Medicare cover wheelchair vans?

No. Original Medicare covers ambulance transport when other transportation could endanger your health, but not wheelchair or stretcher vans.

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.