VA beneficiary travel: mileage pay, special mode rides, and who qualifies
VA beneficiary travel is a Veterans Health Administration program under 38 CFR part 70 that pays eligible veterans and some caregivers for travel to VA care. Most travelers receive 41.5 cents per mile. VA takes $3 off each one-way trip until it has deducted $18 in a month. Veterans who medically need a wheelchair van or ambulance can get special mode transport, which VA pays for at cost.
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Who qualifies
Beneficiary travel is paid to people on a list in 38 CFR 70.10. A veteran qualifies when any of these apply:
- The care is for a service-connected condition, whatever the disability rating.
- The veteran has a service-connected rating of 30 percent or more, for travel for any condition.
- The trip is to a compensation and pension exam that VA scheduled.
- The veteran receives VA pension, or had income no higher than the maximum pension rate.
- The veteran is otherwise unable to pay for the travel under VA’s income tests.
Some non-veterans qualify too. VA also pays for an attendant when a medical determination says the veteran needs one, and immediate family or a legal guardian can be paid for travel to counseling, training, or mental health care connected with the veteran’s treatment. Public Law 114-223, reflected in VA’s 2022 directive, added veterans with vision impairment, a spinal cord injury or disorder, or double or multiple amputations traveling for care in a VA special disabilities rehabilitation program.
What VA pays
| Type of travel | How VA pays |
|---|---|
| Own vehicle | 41.5 cents per mile, from home to the closest facility able to provide the care |
| Bus, train, taxi, or plane (approved in advance) | What the cheapest suitable fare actually cost, generally capped at the mileage amount |
| Tolls, ferries, parking | Paid in full with receipts |
| Special mode (wheelchair van, ambulette, ambulance) | Actual cost |
| Meals and lodging | Only when approved ahead, at most half the local government employee rate |
The deductible is $3 one way or $6 round trip for each appointment. After $18 in deductibles within a month, VA pays approved travel in full until the month ends. Trips that include a special mode carry no deductible, and neither do compensation and pension exams. VA also waives it for veterans on VA pension and for veterans under the income limits.
Round trips are paid only for care scheduled with VA before the veteran arrived, or for emergency treatment. For an unscheduled visit that is not an emergency, VA pays only the trip home, and only if care was given.
Special mode transportation
This is where transportation companies come in. 38 CFR 70.2 defines a special mode as an ambulance, ambulette, air ambulance, wheelchair van, or other mode specially designed to carry people with disabilities. Buses, subways, taxis, trains, planes, and privately owned vehicles fitted with adaptive equipment do not count.
Special mode travel is approved on three conditions. The veteran must medically require it and be unable to cover its cost. VA must also have approved the trip beforehand, unless it happened in a medical emergency. Under VA’s directive, a VA clinician makes the medical call. VA covers the trip’s actual cost. A 2023 rule would pay non-ambulance vendors without a contract the lesser of their charge or a posted Medicaid rate, but its effective date has been pushed back to February 16, 2029.
Before paying a vendor’s invoice, the VA medical center’s business office must confirm that the veteran was authorized and showed up for the appointment. It also has to stop the veteran from claiming mileage for that same appointment. The guide to VA transportation contracts covers how medical centers buy this service and what their solicitations ask for.
Where it meets Medicaid
Many veterans also have Medicaid. CMS lets a state cover Medicaid rides to VA care for a veteran enrolled in VA health care when that is cost effective, because the VA visit costs Medicaid nothing. Missouri’s broker, for example, must take a participant who chose free care from the VA to the closest appropriate VA facility, even beyond its usual distance standards. For the full list of payers a van might carry in one day, see who pays for NEMT.
Proving the veteran made it
VA wants proof that each veteran reached the appointment. HealthRide’s trip log shows scheduled and actual times and GPS-verified miles for every leg, and exports as a spreadsheet or PDF. See reports.
Frequently asked questions
- When is a veteran's travel claim due?
- Claims for ordinary travel are due within 30 calendar days of finishing the trip. Receipts are needed for every expense except mileage. Special mode trips follow a different rule: the veteran applies and gets a VA clinician's approval before the trip, unless it was an emergency, in which case an application within 30 days is on time.
- Is there a deductible on wheelchair van trips?
- No. The beneficiary travel deductible does not apply to travel that includes a special mode of transportation. It also does not apply to compensation and pension exams or to travel by a non-veteran, and VA waives it for veterans on VA pension or below the income limits.
- Can a transportation company be paid by VA directly?
- Yes. VA may pay the person or organization that provided the travel instead of the veteran, with satisfactory proof the trip happened. Most special mode work, though, comes through a VA contract, and the contract sets how trips are ordered, invoiced, and priced. In its 2023 rate rule, VA put the share of non-ambulance special mode payments made under contract at more than 99 percent.
- Will VA cover a taxi ride to an appointment?
- Yes, if the local VA facility approves it before the trip. VA pays fares for public and commercial carriers at the actual cost of the cheapest suitable option, generally no more than driving a personal vehicle would have paid. A taxi is never a special mode, because it is not specially designed to carry people with disabilities.
