Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

Vermont program

Rides to treatment

Vermont Medicaid can pay for rides to your child's covered appointments.

What it is

Vermont Medicaid can pay for rides to your child's covered appointments.

Repeated clinic visits can make travel hard to manage. The statewide transport number connects you with your regional ride service. Meals and lodging may also be available for approved distant care.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child needs Vermont Medicaid and a trip to covered care.
  • The visit must qualify for Medicaid transportation and other household transportation must be unavailable or unusable under the program’s rules. The ride service can assess urgent requests, approved accompanying passengers and hardship mileage; meals, lodging, parking and tolls need authorization, and receipts have deadlines.
What you get
  • Free rides to covered appointments when Vermont Medicaid approves the trip.
  • Possible meals and lodging for approved distant care.
What the help includes
  • A trip over 100 miles one way, or a trip treated as out-of-state under Medicaid’s travel rules, needs the clinician’s travel referral. Dartmouth-Hitchcock is not treated as out-of-state for this rule, but the over-100-mile requirement still applies.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the regional ride service, through 833-387-7200, about your child's clinic schedule.
  2. Have appointment dates and locations ready. Ask the doctor about a travel referral for distant visits.

Statewide Medicaid transportation: 833-387-7200. · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • The ride service requests two business days' notice. The doctor should send a distant-travel referral 10 days before the visit.
  • The oncology social worker can supply the clinic schedule for recurring rides.
Good to know

The ride service arranges lodging. A hotel you book yourself needs a state-approved exception.

Other details
  • Travel approval and approval for treatment outside the usual hospital are separate parts of planning.
  • If you drive your own car more than 50 miles a week (or 215 a month) for treatment, you can ask for mileage back; get approval before the trips. Send mileage claims within 30 days of the appointment and overnight receipts within 30 days of getting home.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could Medicaid arrange rides for our clinic schedule? What are the limits, and could you help with the doctor's form if we need distant care?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand the travel help before appointments become difficult to reach.

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

Call 833-387-7200 and book the whole clinic schedule, at least two business days ahead each time.

Your social worker

The oncology social worker gives the clinic schedule for standing rides and asks the doctor for the travel referral form.

The care team

The referring or primary doctor signs the travel referral form for trips over 100 miles one way or out of state, ten days before the visit.

Who decides
The regional transport provider books the ride; the state approves travel outside the ordinary rules.
Ask your social worker
“Can you give us the clinic schedule so we can book standing rides, and ask the doctor to send the travel referral form for the distant visits?”

How to apply

First step: Call 833-387-7200 the week Medicaid starts and book the whole clinic schedule in one go.

  1. Call 833-387-7200 the week Medicaid starts and book the whole clinic schedule at once.
  2. For a trip over 100 miles one way, ask the doctor to send the travel referral form ten days ahead.
  3. For an overnight stay, ask the transport provider to arrange lodging before you travel.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Call 833-387-7200. Regional numbers include Chittenden 802-878-1527, Rutland 800-339-3191, Washington 802-223-7287, Franklin 855-811-6360, Addison 802-388-2287, Orange and northern Windsor 802-728-3773, southern Windsor and Windham 888-869-6287.

What to gather

  • The Green Mountain Care identification number
  • The clinic schedule
  • For distant visits, the doctor's travel referral form

How long: Book each ride at least two business days ahead; send the travel referral form ten days before a distant visit.

What a yes looks like

Standing bookings for clinic days and a named regional provider to call.

What a no looks like, and the next move

If a trip is refused for distance, ask whether the travel referral form was received and what else it needs.

Watch out

  • Two business days' notice is the state's own ask. The older contractor guide says 48 hours; use the longer one.
  • Over 100 miles one way, or out of state, needs the doctor's travel referral form, sent ten days ahead.
  • Do not book your own hotel. The transport provider makes lodging arrangements unless the state approves an exception first.

Dates that change this

2026-01-01: Regional transport providers change. Only the Grand Isle area update is dated, to January 1, 2026; the other regional arrangements carry no published start date. Call the statewide number first and let it route you. (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

Free rides to covered appointments, with lodging and meals possible for authorised distant care. Book two business days ahead.

  • $2 — Notice the state asks for before a ride
  • $10 — Days before the visit the doctor should send the travel referral form
  • $100 — One-way distance above which a travel referral form is needed

Covers: Rides to covered appointments anywhere in Vermont · Lodging and meals for authorised distant care, arranged by the transport provider · A travel referral form route for long or out-of-state trips

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Coverage
Vermont Medicaid
Route
the regional transport provider, reached through the statewide number

The trap: Book at least two business days ahead. For a trip over 100 miles one way, or out of state, the doctor has to send a travel referral form, and the state asks for that ten days before the visit.

Where I read this

← Back to your options