Minnesota program
Rides, meals and lodging for treatment
Medical Assistance helps with travel to covered appointments, including some costs of distant treatment.
What it is
Medical Assistance helps with travel to covered appointments, including some costs of distant treatment.
Travel costs can add up over a treatment cycle. Medical Assistance can arrange rides or help with family-car mileage. Meals and lodging have limits, so arranging the trip and keeping receipts both matter.
Who can qualify
- The trip must be for a covered medical appointment and the child must have Medical Assistance.
What you get
- Rides or family-car mileage for covered appointments.
- Approved meals and lodging, with a separate check for a needed adult attendant.
What the help includes
- Travel arrangements depend on the covered appointment, transport need and required approvals.
- For distant covered care, the plan or county can check meals, lodging and any needed attendant separately from treatment approval. State limits include $5.50 for breakfast, $6.50 for lunch and $8 for dinner; lodging is generally $50 a day unless the local agency approves more in advance. Your social worker can help confirm which costs are authorized and what receipts are needed.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your social worker to help identify the transportation contact through your health plan or county or tribal agency.
- If you decide to arrange travel, the contact confirms booking notice, any assessment and the records needed.
- Treatment approval and approval for rides, meals, lodging and an attendant are separate. The contact explains which receipts to keep.
Your Medical Assistance health plan, or your county or tribal agency for coverage outside a plan. · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The plan or county or tribal agency confirms the trip arrangements. Your social worker can help discuss a whole treatment schedule.
- For a health-plan refusal, a written decision helps explain the issue. The managed care ombudsperson is available at 651-431-2660.
Good to know
Booking notice depends on the travel arrangement. Higher lodging costs need approval before the stay.
Other details
- For Medical Assistance through a health plan, the plan identifies its transportation contact. Outside a plan, the county or tribal agency confirms the current contact and any transport-level assessment. Booking notice differs by arrangement; the social worker can help check before a trip.
Official sources
“Could Medical Assistance help with our treatment trips, including meals or a stay away from home? What are the limits and tradeoffs, and could you help identify the right ride service?”
Why I’m asking: I want repeated trips to be manageable without assuming every travel cost is covered.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Ring and book the rides, and keep the receipts for meals and lodging.
Your social worker
The oncology social worker knows which service covers your county.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The health plan, or the state contractor for members outside a plan.
- Ask your social worker
- “Can you tell me which ride service covers us, and help set up transport for the whole cycle rather than one visit at a time?”
How to apply
First step: Ring the number on the health plan card and set up rides for the whole cycle.
- Ring the number on the health plan card and set up rides for the whole cycle.
- The health plan or county or tribal agency confirms the transportation contact, booking notice and any assessment. Treatment approval and travel-cost approval are separate.
- Ask about meals and lodging when the hospital is far away.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Ring the number on the health plan card; fee-for-service members ring the regional contractor.
What to gather
- The health plan card
- The appointment schedule
- Receipts for meals and lodging
How long: The responsible health plan, county or tribal agency confirms the required notice for the trip and any separate travel-cost approvals.
What a yes looks like
Booked rides, and mileage or receipts reimbursed.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask the plan for the refusal in writing and ring the managed care ombudsperson on 651-431-2660.
Watch out
- The route depends on health-plan enrollment, county and transport need.
- Treatment approval does not automatically cover travel, lodging or an attendant; the responsible agency confirms each.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Approved treatment travel can include meals at $5.50 breakfast, $6.50 lunch and $8 dinner. Lodging is generally $50 daily unless the local agency approves a higher rate in advance.
- $5.5 — Breakfast cap
- $6.5 — Lunch cap
- $8 — Dinner cap
- $50 — Ordinary lodging cap per night
Covers: Rides to and from appointments · Mileage for a family car · Meals and lodging for distant treatment · A second room for one responsible adult where approved
Legal protection: Travel, a needed attendant, meals and lodging require the responsible plan or agency’s separate approval.
What it costs the family: None on Medical Assistance.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Coverage
- Medical Assistance
- Trip purpose
- covered medical appointments
The trap: The health plan or county or tribal agency confirms the transportation contact, booking notice and any assessment. Treatment approval and travel-cost approval are separate.
Where I read this
- DHS — transportation services provider manual — Minnesota Department of Human Services, read September 10, 2026
- MTM — Minnesota — MTM, Inc., read September 10, 2026