What a wheelchair van ride costs in 2026: published rates and private-pay pricing

Who pays decides the price

The price of a wheelchair van ride depends first on who is paying for it. The same 10-mile trip can cost a Medicaid rider nothing, a Medicare Advantage member a flat copay, and a family paying out of pocket whatever the company charges.

Medicaid riders are protected from extra charges. Under 42 CFR 447.15, a Medicaid provider must treat the program’s payment, plus any cost sharing the plan sets, as the whole bill. This guide focuses on two numbers: what Medicaid pays a company for the trip, and how a private price is built.

Published Medicaid rates for a wheelchair van

Each program below pays a flat base for every one-way ride under code A0130, plus a per-mile amount for the miles the rider is on board. Most bill those miles under S0209; California uses A0380 and Illinois uses A0425. These are the rates the programs publish. Broker and health plan rates are contract terms and can differ.

The 10-mile column counts every loaded mile as billable, except where the base already includes some miles. Several rules change that math:

• Included miles. In Nebraska, the base payment already includes empty miles and the first five miles with the rider aboard, so a 10-mile trip bills five miles. The MTM Rhode Island schedule works the same way, with its per-mile rate starting after mile 5.
• Included help. New York’s policy manual has ambulette staff bring each rider from the apartment or room door at home to the doctor’s office entrance, free of any added charge, however many flights of stairs that takes, and escorts are included too.
• Night rates. With the UJ modifier for night service (7 p.m. to 7 a.m.), a Medi-Cal wheelchair van base rises to $26.43. MTM’s Rhode Island schedule pays a $34.50 wheelchair base when the appointment falls in its evening and overnight window.
• Minnesota’s timing. A 2025 law set these rates to lapse for fee-for-service rides on July 1, 2026. A 2026 law, signed May 27, keeps them in place until the transportation administrator the state must contract with takes over.
• New York’s caveat. A note at the top of the eMedNY spreadsheet ties these fees to trips through the fee-for-service broker, adding that some may reflect negotiated network terms.

The wheelchair premium over an ambulatory ride covers the lift or ramp, the securement straps, and the extra minutes to load. The same schedules show the gap: MTM’s Rhode Island rates pay a $28.50 wheelchair base against $17.75 for an ambulatory rider, and Minnesota pays $19.80 for lift or ramp transport against $14.30 for assisted transport.

For more states and the ambulatory and stretcher columns, see how much Medicaid pays for NEMT and the state rate guides for New York, California, Illinois, and Arizona.

Connecticut: private prices need state approval

Connecticut regulates what wheelchair van companies may charge. Its statutes call the vehicle an invalid coach, meaning one reserved for patients who cannot walk and do not need a stretcher, on nonemergency trips to or from a medical facility or home. The Commissioner of Public Health approves the rates each company may charge.

Each year the Department of Public Health publishes a statewide schedule of maximum allowable rates, which a company can accept by signing a waiver. The 2026 schedule, for January 1 to December 31, 2026, lists these invalid coach rates:

At the statewide rates, a 10-mile trip comes to $319.80 before any waiting or attendant charge. A company can instead keep its own approved schedule, raising it by up to 2.1 percent for 2026 on the short-form application, or file a full rate application for more. In the 2025 approved rates, invalid coach base rates ran from $109 to $233 and per-mile rates from $9.50 to $20.23, so a company’s own approved schedule, not the statewide one, is its ceiling. A company with no approved schedule certifies in writing that it will charge nothing until the department grants one.

Outside Connecticut, check whether the county or city licenses wheelchair vans and what the license says about rates before quoting or buying a ride. The Connecticut guide covers the state’s licensing rules.

How a private-pay price is put together

Where no rule caps it, a company sets its own private price. It can be built from the same parts Medicaid uses, plus charges for the extra time and labor some trips take.

• Base rate. Charged for each one-way trip. It pays for arriving at the door, getting the chair on board and strapped down, and unloading at the destination.
• Loaded miles. Charged for the distance with the rider aboard. A company may also charge for the drive to a pickup far outside its area, so ask.
• Waiting time. Charged in time steps after a free grace period, when the van waits during an appointment instead of leaving and coming back. The Medicaid waiting code, T2007, counts half hours.
• Stairs. Bringing a wheelchair rider down steps can take a second person or a stair chair. A company may charge per flight or a flat fee.
• Second attendant or escort. Charged when a second staff member rides along. Ask whether a family member rides free.
• After hours. A higher base rate or an added percentage for early, late, weekend, or holiday trips, much like the night rates in the Medicaid schedules above.
• Cancellations and no-shows. A fee when a trip is cancelled late or the rider is not there, under a written policy.

Here is how those parts combine. The rates below are hypothetical, chosen to show the math. They are not market prices.

Example: a round trip to a clinic, 12 miles each way, one flight of stairs at home, and the van waits 45 minutes, using a sample rate card of $60 base, $3.00 per loaded mile, $25 per flight of stairs, and $10 per 15 minutes of waiting after the first 15 free.

The same trip at a company that includes stairs and a short wait in its base rate could come in lower even with a higher base. That is why comparing base rates alone misleads.

What to ask before you book

Families and facility staff get the most accurate price by describing the trip fully. These questions cover what changes the price:

1. The rider’s chair. Manual, power, or scooter, and its rough weight with the rider in it. Ramps and lifts have weight limits.
2. Transfers. Whether the rider stays in the chair for the ride or can move to a seat.
3. The door. Curb pickup, help to the door, or help through the door, and how many steps there are at each end.
4. The return. Whether the van waits, returns at a set time, or comes back when the rider calls.
5. Who rides along. A caregiver, a second staff member, or no one.
6. The total, in writing. Ask for the full price of this trip, with every mandatory fee included, and the cancellation policy.
7. The receipt. Ask for an itemized receipt if you plan to pay from an HSA or FSA or claim a medical expense deduction.

Facilities that book often can ask for a written rate agreement. A facility agreement template shows what one covers.

For operators: setting your own price

Set private prices from your cost per trip, then check them against the published rates above. The NEMT pricing guide covers the cost math step by step. A rate sheet turns the result into a single page a family can follow.

Two rules connect your private prices to Medicaid. Programs such as South Dakota’s want claims billed at your usual and customary charge, then pay no more than the fee schedule amount. And a Medicaid rider is never billed the gap between your private price and the Medicaid rate. Keep one published price list and use it consistently for every private customer.

Pricing each ride the same way

In HealthRide, you set fares for each payer, so every trip is priced the moment it is booked. When the ride is done, it becomes an invoice at that payer’s rates, and families and facilities can pay by pay link or saved card. Checks and other payments land in the same list. See invoicing.