What Missouri Law Actually Requires

Under Missouri’s workers’ compensation statute, RSMo 287.140.1, an employer’s insurance carrier must cover reasonable and necessary travel expenses related to medical treatment for a work injury. This most clearly applies when treatment occurs outside the local or metropolitan area of the worker’s principal place of employment, such as a referral to a specialist in another city. In those situations, reimbursement generally applies up to a set maximum number of miles each way.

Even for appointments closer to home, travel costs tied to authorized treatment are part of what the insurer is expected to cover. The reimbursement rate itself changes periodically and is generally tied to the rate in effect on the date of the injury, which means two workers seeing the same doctor for the same type of visit could be entitled to different per-mile amounts depending on when they were hurt. Confirming the correct rate for your specific claim, rather than assuming it matches whatever a coworker was told, is worth doing early.

What Counts as Reimbursable Travel

Reimbursable travel typically includes trips to:

• Authorized treating physicians and specialists
• Physical therapy or occupational therapy sessions
• Independent medical examinations scheduled by the insurer
• Diagnostic testing such as MRIs, EMGs, or X-rays connected to the claim
• Pharmacy trips directly tied to injury-related prescriptions, in some cases

Parking fees and tolls connected to these trips are also generally treated as legitimate travel expenses. Keeping a simple log with the date, destination, purpose of the visit, and mileage driven makes these claims far easier to submit and far harder for an adjuster to dispute.

Why This Detail Matters More for Longer, More Serious Claims

For a short-term injury with a handful of appointments, mileage reimbursement is a modest convenience. For a worker recovering from surgery, going through months of physical therapy, or seeing specialists for ongoing treatment before reaching maximum medical improvement, the miles and dollars involved can add up quickly over the life of a claim.

This is also where mileage reimbursement connects to a bigger issue in serious injury cases: the future medical care that a settlement needs to account for. If ongoing appointments, therapy, or specialist visits are expected to continue after a case settles, transportation costs are one of the future needs that should be factored into the value of the claim, not just reimbursed one trip at a time.

What to Do If Reimbursement Is Delayed or Denied

Mileage reimbursement requests sometimes get lost in the shuffle of a larger claim, especially when an adjuster is juggling many files. If a submitted mileage log goes unpaid for an extended period, a written follow-up referencing the specific dates and amounts owed is usually the first step. Keep copies of everything submitted.

If an insurer outright denies mileage reimbursement that should clearly be covered, treat that denial the same way as any other disputed part of a claim. Small unpaid reimbursements can signal how an insurer is handling the broader file, especially if other parts of the claim have also been denied or minimized.