By Maurice
Are you looking for free transportation for seniors in your area? You're in the right place!
On this page you'll find the most comprehensive listing of free transportation programs for the elderly, including programs that operate across the country.
We also have individual directories for each of the 50 US states. If you'd like to see free transportation programs that operate only in your city and/or state, please click your state below and you'll be taken to the directory:
State-Level Free Transportation Programs for Seniors:
National Free Transportation Programs for Seniors:
Program Description:
The American Cancer Society is a nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem.
Their Global Headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia, and they have more than 350 regional and local offices throughout the country to ensure we have a presence in every community.
The American Cancer Society Road To Recovery program provides transportation to and from treatment for people with cancer who do not have a ride or are unable to drive themselves.
- 1Due to public safety concerns related to COVID-19, your American Cancer Society is not currently setting up or coordinating patient rides to cancer-related appointments. We will update this message as conditions change. For other ACS support, please reach out to us via Live Chat, or call our Cancer Helpline at 1-800-227-2345.
Program Description:
The Department of Veterans Affairs runs programs benefiting veterans and members of their families. It offers education opportunities and rehabilitation services and provides compensation
payments for disabilities or death related to military service, home loan guaranties, pensions, burials, and health care that includes the services of nursing homes, clinics, and medical centers.
VA recognizes Veterans who are visually impaired, elderly, or immobilized due to disease or disability, and particularly those living in remote and rural areas face challenges traveling to their VA health care appointments. Veterans Transportation Service (VTS) is working to establish Mobility Managers at each local VA facility to help Veterans meet their transportation needs.
- 1Participating VA medical centers (VAMCs) offer VTS to assist Veterans in accessing transportation to VA medical facilities or authorized non-VA appointments to receive the care they have earned. VTS provides qualifying Veterans with free transportation services to and/or from participating VA medical centers (VAMCs) in a multi-passenger van.
- 2Each local VA authorized facility has ridership guidelines based on their capabilities.
- 3A list with the VTS offices in the US: Veterans Transportation Service Locations
Program Description:
No Transportation service available on the website
Program Description:
Hope Lodge is a program of the American Cancer Society that offers cancer patients and their caregivers a free place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city.
There are more than 30 Hope Lodge throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Transportation may be provided by the Hope Lodge community or nearby treatment facilities.:
- 1In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ACS suspended Hope Lodge operations on March 27, 2020, because we could no longer ensure the health and safety of our immune-compromised cancer patient residents, volunteers, and staff. Until we are able to safely host patients again, ACS is offering our Hope Lodge facilities as free temporary housing for health care workers who are unable to return home for fear of exposing their families to the coronavirus.
- 2All lodging requests must begin with a referral from the patient's treatment facility located near the Hope Lodge community. Potential guests should coordinate a request through their treatment facility doctor or social worker. Rooms are available on a first-referred, first-served basis.
Program Description:
ModivCare Solutions, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of ModivCare Inc. (NASDAQ: MODV). As the nation’s largest manager of non-emergency medical
transportation, LogistiCare manages more than 63 million rides annually in 50 states and the District of Columbia.
- 1Medicaid paid: States establish and administer their own Medicaid programs and determine the type, amount, duration, and scope of services within broad federal guidelines.
Federal law requires states to provide certain mandatory benefits (inclcuding Transportation to medical care) and allows states the choice of covering other optional benefits.
Mandatory benefits include services including inpatient and outpatient hospital services, physician services, laboratory and x-ray services, and home health services, among others. Optional benefits include services including prescription drugs, case management, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.
Medicare Advantage covers some NEMT transportation.
LogistiCare presence map in United States: Reservation Numbers & Location Map | LogistiCare Solutions
Program Description:
As one of the nation’s most experienced and qualified non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) brokers, MTM was founded in 1995 by Peg and Lynn Griswold.
With headquarters in Lake St. Louis, Missouri, we operate in 31 states and the District of Columbia and maintain call centers and offices across the United States. MTM’s diverse client base includes healthcare and transit contracts with state and county governments, departments for aging, public transit agencies, community groups, and Managed Care Organizations.
- 1Specific details available for each state.
Program Description:
DAV (Disabled American Veterans) is a leading nonprofit that provides a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families. Annually, they provide over 700,000 free rides to veterans
seeking transportation to their scheduled VA medical appointments nationwide. In Wisconsin DAV gives more than 40,000 free rides to veterans each year.
Program Description:
AmeriCorps is a federal agency that funds organizations to make positive impact in communities. To support the placement of AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in communities, we provide more than $800 million in financial and human resources grants every year.
These grants provide resources and people power in the form of members and volunteers for organizations across the country.
The Senior Companion program focuses on providing assistance and friendship to older adults who have difficulty with daily living tasks, such as shopping or paying bills. Through this program, AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers keep seniors independent longer and provide respite to family caregivers. AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers themselves report better health and longevity having served their community.
- 1The program is delivered through local organizations, such as national or local nonprofits, schools, government agencies, faith-based or community organizations.
Program Description:
A PACE organization is a non-profit private or public entity that is primarily engaged in providing PACE health care services.
PACE providers receive monthly Medicare and Medicaid capitation payments for each enrollee. Medicare enrollees who are not eligible for Medicaid pay monthly premiums equal to the Medicaid capitation amount, but no deductibles, coinsurance, or any other type of Medicare or Medicaid cost-sharing.
The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) benefits include, but are not limited to, all Medicaid and Medicare covered services, including transportation. PACE also includes all other services determined necessary by the health professionals team to improve and maintain an individual’s health.
PACE programs provide services primarily in an adult day health center and are supplemented by in-home and referral services in accordance with the enrollee’s needs.
- 1What you pay for PACE depends on your financial situation.
If you have Medicaid, you won't pay a monthly premium for the long-term care portion of the PACE benefit.
If you don't qualify for Medicaid but you have Medicare, you'll be charged these:
A monthly premium to cover the long-term care portion of the PACE benefit
A premium for Medicare Part D drugs
There's no deductible or copayment for any drug, service, or care approved by your health care team.
If you don't have Medicare or Medicaid, you can pay for PACE privately.
Program Description:
United Way is engaged in nearly 1,800 communities across more than 40 countries and territories worldwide. As the largest privately-funded nonprofit in the world, we create solutions that build stronger communities.
We're improving education, strengthening financial stability and making communities healthier. But we don't do it alone. Nearly 2.6 million volunteers and 9.6 million donors are engaged with us across the world to advance community-based and community-led solutions.
Launched in 2018, Ride United leverages the strengths of United Ways, the 211 network and partners to address unmet transportation needs for individuals and families across the U.S. In 2020, United Way expanded Ride United to connect clients with food and household good deliveries, in addition to providing essential transportation.
- 1Help us get people where they need to go by supporting Ride United. Your generous contribution will provide someone with a free ride to a job interview or chemotherapy appointment, or help deliver groceries from a food bank to someone in need.
Program Description:
A small child, ravaged by cancer, needs specialized lifesaving treatment at a hospital 300 miles away. A father, separated from his family by a hurricane, wants desperately to be reunited.
A domestic-violence survivor longs to start a new life in another city, but cannot afford to leave. These are just a few of the people to whom we offer help and hope.
There’s an angel in the cockpit.
The ability to travel easily across the country is something that most of us take for granted. But for those whose lives are in turmoil, the financial, physical, and emotional burdens can make ordinary trips extraordinarily difficult. That’s when they turn to Angel Flight West. Our network of 1,400+ volunteer pilots fly their own planes and pay for all costs out of their own pockets, in order to make these critical journeys.
At our headquarters in Santa Monica, California, our ground team manages the complex system of matching pilots with passengers, coordinating the flights, spreading the word among referral agencies, and continually recruiting new volunteers.
What we do is much like running a small airline, further complicated by the extra care and expense of working with passengers who need our help, their families, as well as medical and hospital personnel.
The beneficiaries of the flight – the passengers and their families, the healthcare organizations – pay nothing at all, ever.
- 1Because of the limited resources of our volunteer pilots, the distance traveled can be no more than 1,000 miles in each direction.
- 2There is never a charge of any kind for an Angel Flight.
- 3Your flight will be scheduled to accommodate your medical appointment.
- 4Your pilot will pick you up at an airport near your home and bring you to your treatment facility.
- 5Your flight is just for you, and will typically be in a small private plane.
- 6This means that we can pick you up at an airport near your home, even if you live in a rural area.
- 7After your appointment, another pilot will pick you up and bring you home.
- 8You can bring companions to travel with you.
- 9You can travel with Angel Flight on as many trips as you need.
Program Description:
Since 1985, we’ve provided more than 127,000 free flights to those in need of life-changing medical care not available in their local communities.
Almost all Miracle Flights patients suffer from medical conditions treated by only a handful of experts located across the country, which makes medical travel a necessity. While insurance may cover actual treatment, it rarely covers the cost of travel.
As a result, many patients go untreated or misdiagnosed, simply because they can’t get to the medical experts who can effectively treat their condition. That’s where Miracle Flights comes in. We alleviate the financial burden of travel so families can focus on treatment and recovery.
We fly everywhere, every time.
Our team provides commercial plane tickets to all U.S.-based medical treatment facilities at no cost to families. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we’re able to fly patients as many times as needed. We’ve been flying some for more than 18 years.
We fly everyone, of every age.
We help treat all diseases for patients of every age. Simply put, we’ll fly anyone with a complex medical need who requires distant medical care.
We believe in the healing power of family.
We’ll pay to fly both parents or legal guardians of patients under 18. We’ll pay to fly a caregiver or companion for adult patients.
- 1Miracle Flights provides free commercial airline tickets to those in need of life-changing medical care far from home.
- 2Our programming services are available to children and adults! Miracle Flights will provide free commercial flights for anyone that needs medical care far from home, regardless of their age.
- 3Miracle Flights will provide up to two round trip flights each month for eligible patients and family members for as long as it takes. Some families have received dozens of flights from us over the course of many years.
- 4We ask that you submit a new online flight request application for each requested medical travel journey.
- 5We ask that all flight request applications be submitted at least 14 days before your requested departure date. This allows us optimal time to search and coordinate the most accommodating flight for you at the most economical price for our organization.
- 6“For a Child Patient – Miracle Flights will provide flights to a qualifying child patient (age 17 and under at the time of medical appointment) and up to two adult parents/legal guardians/family members (up to 3 total passengers).
For an Adult Patient – Miracle Flights will provide flights for an adult patient (age 18 and over) and one spouse/caregiver/family member (up to 2 total passengers) if it is medically necessary for the patient to travel with a chaperone.” - 7We’ll provide flights to anywhere in the United States, as long as your treatment site verifies your medical appoint date. In cities with multiple airports, we’ll generally provide flights to the airport that is best for you and your family as long as it’s economically feasible for our organization.
- 8Passengers are responsible for all baggage fees and add-on fees as set forth by the airline they are traveling. Please visit your airline’s website for the latest details and processes.
Program Description:
VA’s Highly Rural Transportation Grants program provides money for free rides for Vets living in highly rural areas. Thousands of Veterans who live in highly rural and remote areas will now have free
transportation to their VA medical appointments to receive the health care they need and have earned through service to our country.
The program enables State Veterans Service Agencies and Veteran Service Organizations to use innovative approaches to provide transportation services that help to expand access to VA health care for Veterans.
A highly rural area is a county or counties with a population of less than seven persons per square mile. Twenty-five states have counties that are highly rural. Those states are found in the northern, western and southwestern parts of the United States.
- 1The free transportation is made possible through VA’s Highly Rural Transportation Grants program.
Program Description:
Veyo is a proven, end-to-end solution to the logistics challenge of NEMT (non emergency medical transportation).
Veyo is a company that partners with insurance companies and health facilities to provide non-emergency medical transportation that’s covered as an insurance benefit.
- 1Best for: Seniors who need transportation to medical appointments and those who need a special vehicle to accommodate a wheelchair or stretcher.
Price: Free, if their insurance company offers Veyo as a transportation benefit. Because we contract with health plans, our transportation costs are covered by insurance or Medicaid/Medicare Advantage benefits. There is no cost to the passenger to use Veyo® services.
