(Join us Thursday for an Afterhours CEU/refreshments at our Orlando/Maitland office, RSVP eg@eraclides.com)
Greetings, ah the wonders of technology. Last week I had several adjusters reach out to me regarding a “change” in the Florida Medical mileage rate. Apparently if you Google the Florida WC medical mileage rate, the Google AI answer comes up with several different official sounding but wrong answers depending on how you ask. I tested it several times with different language and it returned three different wrong answers; $.655 (which is the 2023 IRS mileage rate for business travel), $.21 (which is the 2025 IRS medical mileage rate) and $.205 (which is the 2026 IRS medical mileage rate).
All wrong. Don’t use Google AI.
Use Morgan AI (Ask Indek).
The correct answer is there is no statutory actual FL medical mileage rate, but almost everyone uses the rate the state of FL pays its own employees, $.445. In fact, the WC Division’s own website says $.445:
Can I claim reimbursement for travel related to receiving authorized medical care?
Yes. Mileage reimbursement forms will be mailed to you. Reimbursement is currently in the amount of .445 cents per mile. You may submit mileage reimbursements as treatment occurs or if you prefer, you may submit them periodically or at the end of your treatment.
https://myfloridacfo.com/division/risk/workers-compensation/workers-compensation-faqs
So, what is the real answer? In a 1964 case, Mobley v. Jack and Son Plumbing, the FL Supreme Court said that the Employer/Carrier is responsible for “reasonable actual costs” of transportation for medical treatment. They threw out the statutory $.075 cents rate, and said unless the parties stipulate to a mileage rate “the reasonable actual cost of such travel expenses will have to be proved just as any other factual issue.”
The Legislature then added medical mileage to the WC statute in 1977, and stated the rate was whatever rate the state paid its own employees. However when the statute was amended in 1993, medical mileage was removed entirely. In today’s statute (since 2003), there is no provision addressing the medical mileage rate.
Then, in a 2006 case, Remington v. City of Ocala, the 1st DCA noted the Mobley case, and said the E/C is still responsible for the “transportation costs necessarily incurred to obtain treatment..” and that it should be paid at the “reasonable actual cost thereof.”
Everyone simply continued to use the state employee rate which was at that time $.29, but has been $.445 for many years.
So, almost everyone continues to use $.445, including the Division. However a JCC could find the “reasonable actual cost” to be higher. It’s always a strategic decision on how to handle if you are challenged on the rate. I do recommend as a general rule using $.445.
Sincerely,
Morgan Indek | Managing Partner