Sufferers are counting on Lyft and Uber to succeed in medical care

“When the journey is an hour or an hour and a half of principally freeway driving, individuals are inclined to let you know what they’re going via,” she mentioned.

Drivers equivalent to Carr have grow to be a important a part of the medical transportation system in Georgia, in addition to in Washington, D.C., Mississippi, Arizona, and elsewhere. Whereas some sufferers use transportation firms solely devoted to medical rides or nonemergency ambulance rides to get to their appointments, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing firms Uber and Lyft are additionally ferrying individuals to emergency rooms, kidney dialysis, most cancers care, bodily remedy, and different medical visits.

However Georgia ride-hail drivers aren’t solely serving sufferers residing in Atlanta or its sprawling suburbs. When rural Georgians are too sick to drive themselves, Uber or Lyft is commonly one of many solely methods to succeed in medical care within the state capital.

Rural hospital closures in Georgia have meant individuals battling most cancers and different critical sicknesses should now commute two or extra hours to remedy amenities in Atlanta, mentioned Bryan Miller, director of psychosocial assist providers on the Atlanta Most cancers Care Basis, a medical apply offshoot that seeks to alleviate monetary burdens for most cancers sufferers and their households.

From April 2022 to April 2024, Lyft drivers accomplished 1000’s of rides that had been larger than 50 miles every method and that started or ended at Atlanta-area medical remedy facilities, together with the Winship Most cancers Institute of Emory College and Emory College Hospital Midtown, in line with Lyft.

Whereas 75% of these journeys had been below 100 miles, the corporate mentioned, 21% of them had been between 100 and 200 miles and 4% had been over 200, displaying that even Georgians who dwell hours away from metro Atlanta depend on the ride-hail platform to succeed in medical care there.

Uber Well being international head Zachary Clark declined to offer comparable ridership information. Uber Well being is a division of Uber that organizes medical transportation for some Medicaid and Medicare recipients, well being care staff, prescription drug supply, and others in search of reimbursement for medical-related Uber rides, in line with Uber’s web site.

Lyft additionally has a well being care division, providing packages equivalent to Lyft Assisted and Lyft Concierge to coordinate rides for sufferers.

Nationwide, some insurance coverage firms and most cancers remedy facilities, plus Medicare Benefit and state Medicaid plans, pay for such ride-hailing providers, typically with the purpose of lowering missed appointments, in line with Krisda Chaiyachati, an adjunct assistant professor on the College of Pennsylvania medical college.

In 2024, 36% of particular person Medicare Benefit plans and 88% of particular wants plans supplied transportation providers, mentioned Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, affiliate director of Medicare coverage at KFF, the well being coverage analysis, polling, and information group that features KFF Well being Information. A particular wants plan supplies additional advantages to Medicare recipients who’ve extreme and persistent illnesses or sure different well being care wants, or who even have Medicaid.

And Medicaid — the federal-state authorities security web insurance coverage plan for these with low incomes or disabilities — paid for as much as 4 million beneficiaries to make use of nonemergency medical transportation providers yearly from 2018 via 2021, in line with a Division of Well being and Human Companies report. Sufferers residing in rural areas used ride-hailing and different nonemergency transportation suppliers on the highest charges, the report mentioned.

The estimated whole federal and state funding in nonemergency medical transportation was roughly $5 billion in 2019, in line with a examineby the Texas A&M College Transportation Institute.

Even with some insurance coverage protecting journeys or charities providing journey credit, social staff say, many ailing sufferers are nonetheless left with out a journey. Nationwide, 21% of adults with out entry to a car or public transit went with out wanted medical care in 2022, in line with a examine by the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis. Individuals who lacked entry to a car however had entry to public transit had been much less more likely to skip wanted care.

The information analytics firm Geotab ranked Atlanta as tied for second worst within the nation with regards to the accessibility of its public transportation community.

“The flexibility to get to a physician’s appointment could be a barrier to care,” mentioned Rochelle Schube, a most cancers assist group facilitator in Atlanta. “If I give a affected person $250 in Uber playing cards and so they dwell far-off, that will get spent shortly.”

The truth that Uber and Lyft are tougher to come back by in rural America compounds the shortage of medical entry in these areas. “Once you transfer to rural areas — which you might argue have a better want — you see fewer providers,” Chaiyachati mentioned.

Discovering drivers who’re in a position and prepared to offer medical transportation could be a problem. The Atlanta-based start-up MedTrans Go connects sufferers and well being care suppliers with vetted drivers, many providing wheelchair or stretcher rides, in Georgia and 16 different states. A lot of its drivers have medical coaching, stroll sufferers to and from medical amenities or their houses, and may deal with advanced conditions for susceptible sufferers, mentioned Dana Weeks, the corporate’s co-founder and CEO.

The corporate’s app may also dispatch on to Uber or Lyft for sufferers who don’t want specialised help, she mentioned.

Uber and Lyft journeys can save sufferers and insurers cash, costing a fraction of the everyday price for an ambulance journey, mentioned David Slusky, an economics professor on the College of Kansas who has studiedthe influence of ride-hailing providers on drugs.

However as an alternative of all of that, argued Timothy Crimmins, a historical past professor emeritus at Georgia State College and a former director of the college’s neighborhood-studies middle, the most effective resolution can be for Georgia to increase Medicaid, so extra rural hospitals would be capable to stay open and Georgians might search medical care near dwelling.

The choice by Georgia lawmakers to not settle for a federally funded growth of Medicaid has left greater than 1.4 million Georgians with out medical health insurance, in line with KFF — and that hurts rural hospitals when these sufferers use the medical amenities and can’t pay their payments. In Georgia, 10 rural hospitals have both closed or ceased their inpatient care operations since 2010, in line with a 2024 report from well being care marketing consultant Chartis, and 18 extra are at risk of shuttering.

Till extra sufferers are insured, Crimmins mentioned, the state ought to subsidize Uber and Lyft journeys for much less affluent Georgians who need assistance reaching medical care in Atlanta. “We is likely to be speaking about $100 to $150 round-trip,” he mentioned. “That may be backed.”

Nonetheless, ferrying round sufferers is just not for each ride-hail driver. Damian Durand mentioned his Chevrolet Equinox SUV is massive sufficient to accommodate a medical passenger requiring a wheelchair, however he isn’t paid additional to move these with medical wants. He mentioned a few of his latest passengers in Atlanta have been Medicaid recipients with psychological well being situations or disabilities.

“It may be worrying,” he mentioned. “I do really feel like Uber and Lyft are attempting to catch me off guard. After I can see that the journey goes to the hospital, I attempt to keep away from or cancel the journey.”

Whereas Durand’s expertise with medical transport has been principally adverse, Carr loves the work and appreciates with the ability to assist older Georgians, who she mentioned typically tip her nicely. For her, ride-hail work stays a very good choice even when it entails medical calls.

“It’s not worrying for me,” she mentioned. “I labored a very good 20 years in customer support. For me, human connection is essential. I attempted to make money working from home, and I actually didn’t prefer it. I want this as a result of I can join with individuals.”

KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is without doubt one of the core working packages at KFF—an impartial supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Be taught extra about KFF.