Does Medicare cover ambulance rides?

Basic Coverage for Emergencies

Medicare Part B handles the cost of ambulance services that transport you to a medical facility for care. This coverage applies when using any other vehicle could endanger your health. The service must be medically necessary to treat your condition.

Medicare may cover the cost of an airplane or helicopter when ground transport is too slow to get you the help you need right away. It is reserved for situations where speed is critical to your survival or health.

Where You Can Be Taken

Medicare only pays for an ambulance ride to the closest medical facility that can provide the care you require. You cannot choose a distant hospital if a closer one can provide the required treatment.

Non-Emergency Transportation Rules

If your doctor or another health care provider writes an order stating that an ambulance is medically necessary, Medicare may cover non-emergency transport in certain situations.

A person with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), for instance, might require a medically necessary ambulance trip from home to a dialysis facility and back. A Medicare demonstration program might apply if you need scheduled, non-emergency ambulance rides at least once a week for 3 weeks or more, or 3 or more round trips within a 10-day period.

Prior Authorization Requirements

If you are about to make your fourth round trip within a 30-day period, your ambulance company may need to ask Medicare for prior authorization under this demonstration. This step helps you and the company find out sooner if Medicare is likely to cover the services. For these scheduled, non-emergency ambulance services, either the ambulance company or you can ask for prior authorization.

Should Medicare deny the prior authorization request while you continue using the service, Medicare will reject the claim, and the ambulance company may bill you for all charges. If you get these rides on a schedule, ask whether the request was approved before you keep using them.

Your Share of the Cost

Once you have paid the Part B deductible, your share is 20% of the Medicare-approved amount. This applies to both emergency and covered non-emergency rides. The ambulance company must give you an "Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN)" if both of the following are true: You are getting ambulance services in a non-emergency situation. The ambulance company thinks Medicare might not cover that specific service.

Common questions

Last reviewed October 2026. Medicare rules, dates and dollar amounts can change each year; Medicare.gov has the official details.