South Dakota program
Help with treatment trips (Medicaid medical travel)
Medicaid can pay you back for treatment travel and some overnight meals and lodging.
What it is
Medicaid can pay you back for treatment travel and some overnight meals and lodging.
Repeated treatment trips can become a large expense. South Dakota Medicaid can reimburse mileage and qualifying overnight costs. The overnight rules depend on distance, specialty care and whether your child is admitted.
Eligibility rules
- Your child must have South Dakota Medicaid. Overnight rates require specialty care, an overnight stay and a clinic at least 150 miles from your city of residence.
- A medically necessary escort or volunteer driver may be included.
What you get
- Mileage reimbursement of 70 cents a mile for eligible trips.
- Up to $150 a day for qualifying overnight meals and lodging combined.
What the help includes
- Mileage is 70 cents a mile. Meals alone are $40 a day; approved meals and lodging together are up to $150 a day.
- A medically necessary escort can have an additional $40 daily allowance, excluding inpatient days.
- Your child needs full Medicaid on the travel dates. When your child is admitted, their own meals and lodging are not paid, and the escort's $40 a day stops for those days; ask the travel office what a parent's room can still be claimed. Send the appointment form and receipts within six months of the trip.
If you decide to apply
- If you want travel help, ask the Medicaid travel line what your trip qualifies for and what records it needs.
- Keep a mileage log and receipts for the claim.
- For out-of-state care, ask your referring doctor about the separate approvals for treatment and travel.
South Dakota Medicaid: 866-403-1433 · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The state travel office, 866-403-1433, confirms the transport option, booking notice and any approval needed before arrangements. Out-of-state travel needs separate travel approval. The office confirms the lead time for your trip.
Good to know
Payment comes after the trip. Your child’s inpatient meals and lodging are excluded; the travel office separately checks parent or escort support.
Other details
- Medical approval for an out-of-state visit does not replace travel approval.
Official sources
“We are driving a long way for treatment. Once our child has Medicaid, can we get the mileage back, and would a night near the hospital be covered? Could you help us start the claims?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand what driving and overnight costs we can get back.
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
If travel help is chosen, the social worker can help check approval, keep appointment verification and receipts, and submit the recipient claim within six months of service.
Your social worker
The oncology social worker can set the first claim up with you.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- South Dakota Medicaid
- Ask your social worker
- “We are driving a long way to treatment. Can you help me set up Medicaid travel, and tell me whether we can claim meals and lodging for the nights we stay over?”
How to apply
First step: Call 866-403-1433 before the next appointment.
- Call 866-403-1433 before the next appointment and ask what you have to keep and how you are paid back.
- If the trip is over 150 miles and needs an overnight, ask about meals and lodging in the same call.
- If treatment is out of state, ask the referring doctor who is sending the approval and on what date.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Call the travel line on 866-403-1433 before the trip and ask what to keep. For travel out of state, the referring doctor must get Division of Medical Services approval first.
What to gather
- Appointment letters with dates
- Your mileage from home to the hospital
- Hotel and meal receipts
How long: The travel office confirms trip-specific booking notice and advance approvals. Recipient claims require the appointment-verification form and receipts within six months of service.
What a yes looks like
A payment for the miles, and for the nights away if the trip was over 150 miles.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask whether the refusal was the distance rule or the inpatient rule; both have exact tests you can check.
Watch out
- You are paid back afterwards, so keep every receipt and the mileage.
- The child’s inpatient meals and lodging are excluded. The travel office separately confirms any parent lodging and escort support.
- Travel out of state has to be approved before you go, and it is the referring doctor who sends the request.
Dates that change this
2026-09-11: No regional ride broker, booking lead time or contract date was published. The one verified number is the state's travel line, 866-403-1433. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
70 cents a mile, plus $150 a day for meals and a room when treatment is over 150 miles away.
- $0.7 — Mileage paid to the recipient, escort or volunteer driver, from December 1, 2025
- $150 — Overnight meals with lodging, combined, in state or out of state
- $40 — Overnight meals without lodging, in state or out of state
- $40 — Extra amount for a medically necessary escort, not paid on days the child is an inpatient
- $150 — How far the provider must be from your city of residence before overnight rates are paid
Covers: Mileage to and from treatment · Meals and lodging for overnight trips over 150 miles · Cover for the child and, when medically necessary, one escort or volunteer driver
Legal protection: Non-emergency medical transport is a benefit South Dakota Medicaid has to provide
What it costs the family: Nothing, but you are paid back rather than paid up front, so keep every receipt and the mileage log.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Coverage condition
- South Dakota Medicaid
- Distance
- overnight rates need the provider to be at least 150 miles from the recipient's city of residence and the trip to be for specialty care with an overnight stay
- Covered people
- the recipient and, when medically necessary, one escort or volunteer driver
- Exclusions
- no meal or lodging reimbursement for the recipient on days the child is an inpatient
Decisions this site cannot make: Travel approval by South Dakota Medicaid; a separate Division of Medical Services approval for travel out of state
Expect friction on: Distances are long: a Rapid City family is about 350 miles from Sioux Falls, which is why the 150-mile overnight rule matters here more than almost anywhere
The trap: The recipient’s inpatient meals and lodging and the additional escort allowance are excluded on inpatient days. The travel office must separately confirm any parent lodging support for the named traveler and dates.
Where I read this
- Non-Emergency Medical Travel — South Dakota Department of Social Services, read September 10, 2026
- Transportation Services current fee schedule — South Dakota Department of Social Services, read September 10, 2026
- South Dakota Medicaid phone list — South Dakota Department of Social Services, read September 10, 2026
- Out-of-State Providers billing manual, January 2024 — South Dakota Department of Social Services, read September 10, 2026