Medicare and Transportation

“Does Medicare cover rides to the doctors or ambulance services?”

Medicare does cover ambulance services: the big ambulances and only in cases where it's absolutely medically necessary or  something happens where you need to call 911.  These emergency situations will be covered under Medicare, however everything else is a little bit in the gray zone.

Typically Medicare itself will not cover you for routine transportation even if it's from one hospital to another hospital or hospital to nursing home. As long as you're stable and you're okay to travel in a car, Medicare will not cover that ambulance trip.

The only exception is if a doctor said it's absolutely medically necessary for you to be transported in a big ambulance (not an ambulette) but a big ambulance to wherever you're going. However, some Medicare Advantage plans will cover rides to the doctor as an extra benefit so in those cases it can be the Wild West. 

Make sure to truly know what your benefits are because in some cases it can be an ambulance ride to the doctors or to the hospital or to routine visit sometimes it could be an Uber or Lyft. It really depends on the plan but some plans do cover you for routine rides to the doctor. If you’re not sure, you can contact a representative from your plan or contact Doctor’s Choice and we are happy to help you get the answers.  

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for future material please comment or write to us at hailey@doctorschoiceusa.com. Stay safe and healthy out there!