Transit providers ask Senate Transportation for $800,000 to cover Medicaid NEMT losses

Caleb Grant, chair of the Vermont Public Transportation Association and a representative of Rural Community Transportation, told the Senate Transportation Committee that public transit providers are seeking an $800,000 line in the Budget Adjustment Act to cover realized losses in the Medicaid nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT) program for budget year 2025.

Grant said the payment would be routed to the program entity referenced in testimony as "DIVA," which would then distribute higher payments to public transportation providers. He said the change in language between the House and the Senate appropriations version — replacing the term "supplemental" with "increased payments" — is semantic but clarifies the mechanism by which the funds would be distributed.

The request, he said, reflects higher-than-expected trip volumes late in the year that produced what he described as "realized losses for 2025" that agencies have been covering from diminished cash reserves. "Typically, when transportation agencies face losses in the Medicaid program, we go to cash reserves," Grant said. He told senators the $800,000 would address the full shortfall for 2025 and that providers are watching projected needs for 2026.

Committee members signaled support for including the request in the House BAA version and pressed Grant on whether the amount fully covers the deficit; Grant confirmed it does for 2025. He also reminded the panel that the NEMT contract in question began after an RFP in 2021 and that circumstances have changed since that procurement.

The committee did not take a formal vote during the exchange. Senators and staff said they would continue to monitor projections for 2026 and consider how incremental changes have been handled in prior years. The committee asked staff to return with any clarifying language and to coordinate with impacted parties before finalizing budget language.