Uber Health and HML: Getting Around Is Health Care
Date: 2026-10-26
Summary: Evidence that rides are part of care, Sheboygan ride programs today, and costs per ride.
Uber Health and HML: Getting around is health care
Prepared Oct 26, 2026. Source case study: https://www.uberhealth.com/us/en/case-studies/south-shore-peer-recovery/
What Uber Health is saying (and we agree)
- South Shore Peer Recovery (MA): 340 rides in 2025 for about $8,000, about $23.50 per ride, versus $30,000+ a year to lease and run a van. "The number one barrier to access to care is always transportation." Bus routes there are sparse.
- "Flexible rides": staff approve a time window; the rider gets a text link and taps it when ready, again for the ride home.
- Dashboard: real-time rides, mileage, use and cost, for reporting to donors and grant makers.
- Uber Health already operates in Sheboygan: https://www.uberhealth.com/us/en/d/nemt/sheboygan-wi-us/
The evidence behind "transportation is health"
- About 3.6 million Americans miss or delay non-emergency care each year for lack of a ride (Wallace et al., 2005, Transportation Research Record). Uber cited this number at its 2018 launch. https://doi.org/10.3141/1924-10 and https://www.uber.com/us/en/newsroom/uber-health/
- A review of 61 studies found transportation barriers are a major block to care, worst for low-income and uninsured people (Syed, Gerber, Sharp, 2013). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4265215/ One study in it: 51% of families at a Midwest clinic named no ride as the main reason for a missed appointment. Another: a Minneapolis bus strike raised missed nurse visits.
- Rides alone are not magic. A Penn/Lyft trial offered free rides to 786 Medicaid patients; missed appointments stayed about 36.5% vs 36.7%, and only about 20% used the ride (Chaiyachati et al., JAMA Internal Medicine, 2018). https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2671405 Lesson for HML: one-off ride offers that need a phone call and booking don't change habits. A bus that is always there, free, needs no booking.
- Lyft Healthcare says it serves Medicaid rides covering about 75% of U.S. Medicaid members in 28 states plus DC. https://www.lyft.com/healthcare
- Wisconsin Medicaid NEMT: one statewide manager books rides (866-907-1493). Veyo became MTM on Feb 1, 2024; on May 21, 2026 DHS announced intent to pick Verida, Inc. as the next vendor, no switch date yet. https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/nemt/manager.htm and https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/nemt/vendor.htm
- What Medicaid pays: manager trips are paid at rates MTM negotiates privately, so there is no public per-trip figure. The public ForwardHealth fee for wheelchair van trips billed outside the manager is $12.59 base (first 5 miles) plus $1.32/mile. https://healthride.app/blog/wisconsin-medicaid-nemt-rates/ Industry estimates put an ambulatory trip near $30 plus about $2/mile (unverified estimate, not a state number).
Sheboygan today: rides in islands
- Metro Connection county elderly/disabled program: 60+ or disabled, reservations, 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM weekdays, $3 a ride. https://www.sheboygancounty.com/departments/departments-f-q/health-and-human-services/aging-and-disability-resource-center/transportation
- County volunteer driver medical rides for 60+ and disabled with no other ride (same page). The county got over $40,000 in 2025 state mobility grant money for a volunteer driver. https://www.seehafernews.com/2025/03/21/manitowoc-and-sheboygan-county-getting-grants-for-mobility-access/
- Lakeshore Transportation (Plymouth), private wheelchair NEMT. https://lakeshoretransportwi.com/
- Medicaid NEMT through MTM.
- Aurora Sheboygan, HSHS St. Nicholas/Prevea, Lakeshore CAP: I found no public ride program for any of them. Lakeshore CAP's Sheboygan resource list lists health and billing help, not rides. https://lakeshorecap.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Sheboygan-Co-Resource-List-1.pdf Worth asking each directly.
Each program has its own rules, hours, phone line, van and paperwork. That is the point: agency-paid ride islands. Fare-free HML buses running 5 AM to 12:30 AM every day replace most of them with one system everyone can use.
Cost per ride
| Option | Cost per ride |
|---|---|
| Uber Health, South Shore (2025) | about $23.50 |
| Leased van, South Shore projection | $30,000+ a year, about $88+ per ride at 340 rides |
| Medicaid ambulatory NEMT (industry estimate) | about $30 plus about $2/mile |
| Shoreline Metro today | about $7 per trip (about $4.3M, about 610K trips) |
| HML full network (plan projection) | about $8.40 per trip ($22.6M, about 2.7M boardings) |
A bus trip on HML costs about a third of an Uber Health ride and serves everyone, not only the people an agency approves.
What HML can use
- Health framing: put "getting around is health care" on the site. Hubs are already Longevity Hubs.
- "Ride when you're ready": borrow the text-link UX for HML's overnight on-demand (12:30 to 5 AM) and first/last mile: text a link, tap when ready, a free ride comes. No booking days ahead.
- Dashboard transparency: a public HML dashboard with rides, on-time, cost per trip, updated daily.
- Health partners: clinics and recovery centers can print HML trip plans on discharge papers and appointment reminders instead of buying rides.
Funding angles
- Opioid settlement money (checks out): the national settlement list of uses, Exhibit E, allows funds to "provide or support transportation to treatment or recovery programs or services." https://nationalopioidsettlement.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Mylan-Exhibit-E-List-of-Opioid-Remediation-Uses-FINAL.pdf Sheboygan County received about $3.1 million in settlement money as of 2023. https://sheboyganbeacon.com/2023/04/04/county-receives-3-1-million-in-opioid-settlement/ State DHS also passes settlement grants to local health departments and recovery centers. https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/opioids/settlement-funds.htm I found no Sheboygan County settlement spending on transportation yet; that is an opening, for example recovery-route service or the overnight on-demand.
- Health systems (plausible, unconfirmed locally): hospitals already pay for rides elsewhere (Uber Health's model). Aurora and HSHS St. Nicholas could sponsor stops or hub shelters at their campuses as community health spending.
- Medicaid NEMT savings (partial): Medicaid pays the NEMT manager; a free bus doesn't bill Medicaid. The saving shows up if fewer people need booked rides. Worth asking DHS whether bus trips can count in its rides plan. Don't claim a dollar figure yet.
Site section text (ready)
Getting around is health care A missed bus can mean a missed checkup, therapy session or recovery meeting. Health groups across the country now say a ride is part of care. Happy Mobile Life builds that into every street: free buses for everyone, 5 AM to 12:30 AM every day, plus overnight on-demand. No booking, no approval, no fare. Longevity Hubs put the bus at the clinic door.