Future of Non-Emergency Medical Transportation

The Trump Administration is using their regulatory authority to allow states to drop their Medicaid transportation programs.

[carlmccarthy]

I am a 37 year old male from Louisiana I would ride transportation in the early 90's from my Residence in Lafayette Louisiana to New Orleans Louisiana which is a 140 miles away it was definitely a big need for me and my family, In 2015 I introduce the business to my wife she started her business and stayed in business for about 26 months until her contract was wrongfully terminated and she couldn't find the right Avenue to get anything done about that two months later she was given a second opportunity with another Broker for a contract until she negotiated rates and they refused the contract because they said her rates were too high which is not true they were respectable rates you cannot run a business without making the proper Revenue now with the third opportunity she's been back in business going on 6 months still struggling in the business fighting for trip volume consistently begging dispatchers to give us trips the biggest problem in transportation business is bigger companies taken on more than what they can handle that's why a lot of people don't get to their appointments on a day-to-day basis it don't have anything to do with technology GPS systems it have a lot to do with the respect of any company if you don't have respect for the members more and more elderly people and real sick people will get left behind in the dark Point Blank!

[kthompso]

As a NEMT volunteer driver for a Medicaid subsidized service, I see a lot of abuse. Patients who could well afford to pay for the transportation service or who obviously have family who could provide their transportation, are using our "free" service. Our daily transportation schedule is crazy busy, while the local transportation businesses who drive for a fee are largely watching us take their business. I had someone refer to our free service as the "communist medical transport service". Separating those patients who can afford alternative transportation from patients who cannot, is a very time consuming and burdensome process that seldom we have time to do. In our case, it appears to be one that is encouraged by the medical and pharmaceutical industries and is not at all necessary for the health of our community.