NEMT Reimbursement Rates by State in 2027: Base and Mileage Rates

A Medicaid fee schedule is the price list for your rides. It tells you what one trip pays before you accept it, and it is the number to beat when you negotiate with a broker or a health plan. This page lists published NEMT rates for 11 states, with the date each rate took effect, and shows how the rules around those rates change what a trip really pays.

How NEMT reimbursement works

Most Medicaid NEMT rates have two parts:

• A base rate for each one-way trip, also called a leg or a pickup. A round trip is two base rates.
• A mileage rate for each loaded mile, meaning each mile with the rider on board.

The level of service sets both numbers. Ambulatory rides, for riders who can walk, usually pay the least. Wheelchair rides pay more, and stretcher rides, for riders lying down, pay the most. Some programs add separate payments for waiting time, an attendant, or a second rider on the same trip. Texas is an exception to the two-part rule: it pays one flat amount per leg.

Each part has its own HCPCS code. The codes are national, but each state decides which ones it pays and at what rate.

Level of service	Base rate code	Mileage code
Ambulatory van or car	A0120 or T2003, taxi A0100	S0215
Wheelchair van	A0130	S0209
Stretcher van	T2005	T2049
Waiting time, per half hour	T2007	None
Attendant or escort	T2001	None

A few states use other mileage codes. Indiana and Illinois bill NEMT mileage with A0425. Medi-Cal uses A0380 for wheelchair and stretcher vans and A0390 for nonmedical rides. The full code list is in NEMT billing codes.

Two federal policies frame every rate. First, Medicaid generally pays for loaded miles only. CMS says miles with no Medicaid rider on board generally cannot be paid as a service, though states may build their cost into the rate (SMD 23-006, September 28, 2023). Second, the Medicaid payment is payment in full. Under 42 CFR 447.15, you cannot bill the rider for the difference between your price and the rate.

Many schedules are a ceiling, not a promise. South Dakota, North Dakota, Illinois, and Ohio all pay the lower of your usual charge or the scheduled maximum, so bill your normal price and the program pays the lower amount.

Who sets your rate: the state, a health plan, or a broker

The table below shows fee-for-service rates, the ones a state pays when it covers the ride directly. Many Medicaid members get rides through a health plan or a broker instead, and those trips pay whatever your contract says. Ohio’s rule says it plainly: for a managed care member, the rate is set by your provider agreement with the plan.

Contract rates often start from the state schedule:

• Indiana. Verida, the broker for fee-for-service members, bases its NEMT rate schedule on the state’s professional fee schedule. Each provider signs a rate agreement, and Verida can negotiate higher or special rates with each one (IHCP transportation module, August 19, 2025).
• Louisiana. Brokers must pay providers at least the published fee-for-service rate in effect on the date of service, unless the broker and provider agree otherwise in the provider agreement (Medicaid Services Manual, chapter 10, section 10.1).
• New York. The state fee schedule applies to the fee-for-service broker, and the broker negotiates rates with its network. New York’s manual says those negotiated rates replace the fee schedule.

Read your broker agreement for its rate exhibit. If you are joining a network, see how to get NEMT broker contracts and how to bill NEMT brokers.

Finding your state’s schedule got easier this year. Under 42 CFR 447.203, every state had to publish all its Medicaid fee-for-service rates on a public website by July 1, 2026. The page must be linked from the state Medicaid agency’s site, show when rates were last updated, and be updated within one month of a rate change.

NEMT reimbursement rates by state

Each cell shows the base rate for a one-way trip plus the rate per loaded mile, from each state’s fee-for-service schedule. Select a state name to open its schedule.

State	Ambulatory	Wheelchair van	Stretcher van	In effect
Arizona	$6.64 + $1.28 a mile; rural $7.27 + $1.63	$11.15 + $1.54; rural $12.21 + $1.66	$49.09 + $1.54; rural $86.70 + $1.66	Schedule for October 1, 2026
California	Nonmedical rides $17.65 + $1.30	$20.30 + $1.50	$26.29 + $1.50	Rate pages updated September 2023 (vans) and August 2020 (nonmedical)
Illinois	Service car $20.00 + $0.80 to $1.61	Medicar $30.00 + $0.80 to $1.61	Medicar rate plus $9.31 or $11.64 for the stretcher	January 1, 2026
Indiana	$12.71 + $1.67 a mile after the first 10	$31.79 + $1.67 a mile after the first 10	Goes by ambulance	January 1, 2026
Louisiana	$13.50 + $1.10 from mile zero	$21.50 + $1.30; $31.50 + $1.30 for a higher level of care	Not on the NEMT schedule	October 1, 2025 schedule
Nebraska	See the schedule	$46.12 + $1.85 a mile after the first 5	Not on the NET schedule	July 1, 2026
New York	Taxi and livery rates vary by county	Ambulette $31.33 to $64.00 + $3.00 to $4.50, by county; New York City $52.90 + $3.60	$101 to $280 by county	Schedule dated April 5, 2026
North Dakota	Minibus $18.05 + $0.85	$18.05 + $2.57	$97.37 + $2.57	July 1, 2026
Ohio	Not on this schedule	$31.00 + $1.30	Not on this schedule	January 1, 2024
South Dakota	$5.20 in town, $7.80 outside; $1.04 a mile only on trips of 21 miles or more outside the city	$43.39 + $2.61 a mile outside city limits	$109.66 + $2.61 a mile outside city limits	July 1, 2026
Texas	One rate per leg for each authorized seat: $33.83 urban, $62.31 suburban, $79.63 rural	Same rates as ambulatory	Not on this schedule	September 1, 2026

What the table does not show on its own:

• Arizona counts a trip as rural when it starts outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas, and bills it with the TN modifier. Its October 1, 2026 schedule keeps the October 1, 2025 rates except rural ambulatory mileage, which rises from $1.53 to $1.63 a mile.
• California pays more at night, between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., with the UJ modifier: $26.43 for a wheelchair van and $32.42 for a stretcher van. Wheelchair and stretcher van rides need a treatment authorization request (TAR).
• Illinois calls a wheelchair van a medicar and an ambulatory vehicle a service car. It sets the base rate by the county where the provider is registered. Mileage is $1.03 in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, $1.61 in Madison and St. Clair, and $0.80 elsewhere. The stretcher payment is $9.31 in those six northeast counties and $11.64 in the rest of the state.
• Indiana sends fee-for-service riders who need a stretcher to ambulance providers, for dates of service since July 1, 2023.
• Nebraska’s base rate includes unloaded miles and usual waiting time. Its July 2026 schedule notes that there was no rate increase this state fiscal year.
• New York calls a wheelchair van an ambulette and sets rates county by county. The ranges above leave out the OMH and OPWDD rows.
• North Dakota raised its rates 2.0 percent on July 1, 2026. Minibus mileage is billed under A0170, which the July 2025 schedule listed as minibus mileage at $0.83 a mile. That schedule also paid wheelchair van mileage only on trips greater than 15 miles.
• Ohio’s wheelchair van rates last changed January 1, 2024. They sit in the appendix to rule 5160-15-28, whose current version took effect August 1, 2026.
• South Dakota calls its wheelchair and stretcher service secure medical transportation, which is why A0130 reads “secure van” on its schedule.
• Texas pays this rate only for fee-for-service trips that its Medical Transportation Program authorizes, one authorization per leg. In July 2021, soon after the state began paying these claims under T2003, the rate was $27.06 urban, $49.85 suburban, and $63.71 rural.

Where a broker or health plan runs NEMT, the rate is in your contract. Ask the broker for its rate schedule, and see our state guides for how each state runs its program.

What the same wheelchair trip pays in each state

The rules around a rate matter as much as the rate. Here is one wheelchair van trip, 12 loaded miles one way, daytime, one rider, no waiting, priced with each state’s fee-for-service schedule.

State	Base	Paid miles	Mileage	One-way total
Arizona, urban	$11.15	12 × $1.54	$18.48	$29.63
Arizona, rural	$12.21	12 × $1.66	$19.92	$32.13
Texas, urban	$33.83	No mileage line	$0	$33.83
Indiana	$31.79	2 × $1.67 (miles 11 and 12)	$3.34	$35.13
Louisiana	$21.50	12 × $1.30	$15.60	$37.10
California, daytime	$20.30	12 × $1.50	$18.00	$38.30
Illinois, most counties	$30.00	12 × $0.80	$9.60	$39.60
Illinois, Cook County	$30.00	12 × $1.03	$12.36	$42.36
South Dakota, in town	$43.39	None inside city limits	$0	$43.39
Ohio	$31.00	12 × $1.30	$15.60	$46.60
Nebraska	$46.12	7 × $1.85 (miles 6 to 12)	$12.95	$59.07
New York City	$52.90	12 × $3.60	$43.20	$96.10

The formula is the same everywhere:

Trip pay = base rate + (paid miles × mileage rate)

The paid miles are what change. Indiana deducts the first 10 miles of each one-way trip, but you must still bill all of them. Nebraska pays mileage only on trips of 6 miles or more, and the first 5 loaded miles are part of the base. South Dakota pays wheelchair mileage only from the point the trip leaves city limits. Louisiana pays from mile zero.

A round trip doubles each total. None of these amounts pays for the drive to the pickup or back from the drop-off, so compare them with your own cost per trip before you take the work. For private riders, where you set the price, see how much to charge for NEMT.

Rules that change what a trip pays

When mileage starts and how it is counted

• Rounding. Indiana and South Dakota pay whole miles, rounded to the nearest mile. New York requires loaded miles to the tenth of a mile for dates of service since August 1, 2019, and bars rounding up.
• Long trips. Ohio limits mileage on a trip longer than 50 miles from pickup to 50 miles, unless you keep documents that justify the distance.
• Route. Programs expect the direct route. Ohio does not pay excess mileage from unnecessarily indirect routes, and Indiana expects the shortest, most efficient route, documented with odometer readings or mapping software.

Waiting time

Only some states pay for waiting. Medi-Cal pays T2007 at $11.30 per half hour for waiting beyond the first 15 minutes, up to 90 minutes. Arizona’s schedule pays T2007 at $4.59 per half-hour unit. Indiana pays $7.43 per half hour, but only for waits longer than 30 minutes, only when the vehicle is parked outside the medical office, and only when the rider traveled 50 miles or more one way. The first 30 minutes are never paid, but you still report the total wait. See NEMT wait time billing for more.

Second riders on the same trip

• Indiana pays half the base rate for each extra rider carried from the same county to the same area, with no extra mileage or waiting. Ambulatory extras bill T2004, and wheelchair extras bill A0130 with the TT modifier.
• South Dakota pays extra riders with the TK modifier at half the base, for example $21.70 on a secure van, with one mileage charge per trip.
• Medi-Cal pays a lower base for each rider when several share a wheelchair van from the same pickup to the same destination: $16.22 each for two riders (UN), $12.85 for three (UP), and $11.51 for four or more (UQ, UR, or US).
• North Dakota pays for one member per minibus, wheelchair van, or stretcher van trip, however many ride.

Attendants

Payment for a second person on board varies widely. Illinois pays $20.00 for an attendant, Ohio $15.00 for a wheelchair van attendant, Medi-Cal $5.52, Nebraska $2.87, and South Dakota $2.60, all under T2001.

Recent and pending rate changes

• Louisiana. Act 969 of 2026 (HB 1028) directs the Louisiana Department of Health to set a minimum Medicaid rate of $14.50 per trip and $2.10 per mile, including wheelchair trips. It also calls for a rate method for trips with several passengers. The act takes effect only once the legislature funds it, and the department then has 90 days to file a state plan amendment. As of September 2026, the posted schedule is still the one effective October 1, 2025.
• Minnesota. The NEMT rates written into state law, such as $19.80 plus $1.70 a mile for lift or ramp rides, expired for fee-for-service on July 1, 2026 and expire for managed care on January 1, 2027. From those dates the law requires the state to contract statewide or regionally to run the program, including rides for managed care members, and to pay by the rider’s assessed mode of transport rather than the vehicle used.
• North Dakota. A temporary moratorium on new NEMT agency enrollments statewide has been in effect since June 11, 2026. It does not affect providers already enrolled.

Rates also move with state budgets, so a rate can hold still for years. Ohio’s wheelchair van rate has not changed since January 1, 2024. For how rates get raised and how to take part, see how NEMT rate increases happen.

How to find and use your state’s rate

1. Find out who pays each trip. Check whether the rider is fee-for-service, in a health plan, or served by a broker. Each pays a different rate. The fee-for-service Medicaid page explains the difference.
2. Open the fee schedule. Start from your state Medicaid agency’s website, which must link to its fee-for-service rates under 42 CFR 447.203. Medicaid.gov’s state overviews list each agency. Look for transportation, NEMT, or ambulance schedules.
3. Match your level of service to the codes. Find the base code and mileage code for each vehicle type you run, plus any wait time, attendant, and extra rider codes.
4. Read the billing manual. Note when mileage starts, how miles are rounded, what counts as rural, and whether you need prior authorization.
5. Get your contract rates in writing. Ask each broker and health plan for the rate exhibit in your agreement, and compare it with the state schedule.
6. Price your own trips against the rate. Work out your cost per trip and the loaded share of your miles. A rate that looks low can still pay when your vans stay full, and a high one can lose money on long empty drives. See rural NEMT for the deadhead math.
7. Track effective dates. Sign up for your state’s provider bulletins, and check your schedule on the dates your state updates it. The latest schedules in the table start October 1 in Arizona, September 1 in Texas, July 1 in Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and January 1 in Illinois and Indiana.

Your next step is to price each trip type you run against these rates, then decide which work to take.