Transportation barrier
No Car, No Care? Medicaid Transportation At Risk In Some States
This case documents how changes to Medicaid’s long-standing non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) requirement put patient access to care at risk when states obtained federal waivers. For decades, Medicaid required transportation for certain enrollees to and from medical appointments, but reporting shows some states were permitted to waive that obligation. The case reflects a policy-level access failure rather than a single patient outcome, with potential impacts on low-income patients who rely on Medicaid transportation to reach care.
This case shows how a breakdown in one moment can connect to larger failures in discharge planning, follow-up care, housing support, or service access.
