My Parent Can't Drive Anymore. How Do They Get to Medical Appointments?

The car keys are gone — handed over or taken away — and the calendar still has a doctor's appointment, a dental cleaning and a pharmacy run on it. You can't drive your parent to every one. Here's where rides to medical appointments actually come from, and who pays for them.

Quick answer

Start with your parent's coverage:

• Medicaid: non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) is a required part of the program for people who have no other way to get to covered care.
• Original Medicare: its transportation coverage is ambulance coverage, and it's limited to medically necessary situations.
• Medicare Advantage: some plans include rides to medical appointments — fewer in 2026 than in 2025.
• PACE: transportation to the PACE center and to medical appointments is included.

Beyond insurance, look at your local Area Agency on Aging, ADA paratransit, volunteer driver programs, and ride services your parent can book by phone.

If your parent has Medicaid: NEMT

Medicaid has a long-standing transportation requirement. Federal regulations "require state Medicaid agencies to specify in the state plan that they will assure necessary transportation for clients to and from providers" (Medicaid.gov). Congress later wrote that requirement into the Medicaid statute itself: "Congress clarified that NEMT is a statutorily required benefit in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021" (MACPAC).

It isn't a promise to pay for any ride. CMS describes it as a requirement to make sure beneficiaries who have no other means of transportation can get to covered care, and states must first try to use any free options available, such as a ride from family or friends (CMS). A federal report estimated that "approximately 3 - 4 million Medicaid beneficiaries used NEMT annually between 2018 and 2021" (CMS).

How rides are booked varies by state and by Medicaid health plan. Call your parent's state Medicaid agency or plan and ask how to schedule one — and how far ahead.

If your parent has Original Medicare

Medicare's transportation coverage is ambulance coverage, and it's narrow. Part B "covers ground ambulance transportation when traveling in any other vehicle could endanger your health, and you need medically necessary services" from a hospital, critical access hospital, rural emergency hospital or skilled nursing facility. In some cases, Medicare may pay for non-emergency ambulance transportation "if you have a written order from your doctor or other health care provider that says the ambulance transportation is medically necessary" (Medicare.gov). Medicare also says it only covers ambulance rides to the nearest appropriate medical facility that can give the care needed (Medicare.gov).

For an ordinary ride to a checkup, look at the options further down.

If your parent has a Medicare Advantage plan

Some Medicare Advantage plans include rides as an extra benefit — but check every year. Looking at 2026 individual plans, KFF found that "24% are offering transportation benefits for medical needs (vs. 30% in 2025)," with a much higher share among Special Needs Plans, at 67% (KFF). Your parent's plan documents, or the member services number on their card, will say whether rides are covered and how to book them.

PACE

The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly is "a Medicare and/or Medicaid comprehensive medical and social services program available in some states." Its covered services include "transportation to and from the PACE center and medical appointments." To join, a person must be at least 55, live in a PACE organization's service area, need a nursing home level of care as certified by their state, and be able to live safely in the community with help from PACE (Medicare.gov).

Rides from the community

Your local Area Agency on Aging. The Older Americans Act funds "transportation services to facilitate access to supportive services or nutrition services" (42 U.S.C. § 3030d), and a provider using that money may only use it "for the transport of seniors (and caregivers who are escorting seniors)" (Administration for Community Living). What's available, and where rides can go, varies from place to place — so ask.

ADA paratransit. Public transit agencies that run fixed-route service (other than commuter bus and commuter rail) must also provide paratransit for people with disabilities that is "comparable to the level of service provided to individuals without disabilities who use the fixed route system" (49 CFR § 37.121). Eligibility is based on disability, not age (49 CFR § 37.123). The service generally covers areas within three-quarters of a mile of each bus route or around each rail station, has to be available for trips requested the day before, and can't cost more than twice the regular fare for a similar trip (49 CFR § 37.131). Your parent applies through the local transit agency.

Volunteer driver programs. Most volunteer transportation programs "predominantly serve older adults, people with disabilities and veterans" (National Aging and Disability Transportation Center), and they're often used to fill gaps when other options aren't available (NADTC toolkit). One national nonprofit network, ITNAmerica, says it has supported "more than 1.6 million rides" (ITNAmerica). The federally funded center behind much of this guidance has ended its contract, but its resources are still online (NADTC).

Ride services your parent can book by phone

These are ordinary rides that you pay for. Whether one fits depends on how much help your parent needs getting to and from the car.

• GoGoGrandparent describes itself as "a phone-based concierge service that helps seniors and adults without smartphones access rides, groceries, meals, prescriptions, and home services—without needing apps or the internet." Its number is 1-855-464-6872 (GoGoGrandparent).
• Uber offers senior accounts through its Family profile, and says: "Family organizers can assist by requesting rides, managing payment methods, and receiving real-time trip updates on behalf of their loved one" (Uber). Uber also takes ride requests by phone at 1-833-USE-UBER (1-833-873-8237), from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern — but "you cannot use the service from a landline phone" (Uber).
• Lyft Silver is "a simplified version of the Lyft app designed for independent older adults" (Lyft).

Why it's worth solving early

Missed rides mean missed care. A study of national survey data found that "in 2017, 5.8 million persons in the United States (1.8%) delayed medical care because they did not have transportation" (Wolfe, McDonald and Holmes, American Journal of Public Health, 2020).

And life after driving isn't a short phase. A National Academy of Medicine commentary points to a 2002 report finding that "older men and women, ages 70–74, could expect to not be driving and instead be dependent on alternative transportation for the last 7 to 10 years of their lives, respectively" (National Academy of Medicine). The CDC's advice for older drivers includes planning ahead: "Consider potential alternatives to driving, such as riding with a friend, using ride share services, or taking public transit" (CDC). Getting around is also one of the eight everyday tasks on the Lawton IADL scale — here's what ADLs and IADLs are.

Where a daily check-in fits

A daily check-in won't get your parent to an appointment. What it does is tell your family, every day, that your parent checked in — one less thing to chase while you work out who's driving on Tuesday. If the driving keeps falling to one sibling, sharing check-ins on a parent with siblings can help, and checking on a parent from another state covers the long-distance version.

Where to find help

The Eldercare Locator, a public service of the Administration for Community Living, connects older adults and caregivers with local support resources, "including meals, home care or transportation," and specialists are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern (Administration for Community Living). Call or text 1-800-677-1116 (Eldercare Locator). You can also call 211, which can help with "finding transportation to get to a doctor's appointment" (211).

Cozy Check-ins is a wellness check-in tool to help families stay connected. It is not a medical, monitoring, or emergency service and should not be relied on for emergencies. In an emergency, call 911.

This article is general educational information, not medical, legal, or insurance advice. Coverage rules vary by state and plan and change from year to year; confirm the details with the plan or agency.