By Randy Estes, October 16, 2026
After a work injury, the appointments add up fast: the orthopedist, physical therapy two or three times a week, the MRI across town, the pharmacy. Every one of those trips costs you gas and wear on your car – and for many injured workers, that is money they don’t have while they are living on reduced checks. The good news is that in Louisiana, you are entitled to be paid back for that driving. Here is how it works.
Yes. Louisiana’s Workers’ Compensation Act requires your employer (or its insurance company) to reimburse the mileage you reasonably and necessarily drive to get the medical care, medicine, and prosthetic devices it is required to provide for your work injury. This right comes from La. R.S. 23:1203(D), and it is separate from – and in addition to – your weekly wage checks and the payment of your medical bills.
The law also puts the burden on the system to tell you about it: the employer’s insurer is required to inform injured workers of their right to mileage reimbursement. In practice, many workers are never told, and never ask. That is money left on the table.
In general, mileage is reimbursable for trips to obtain treatment related to your work injury, including:
Trips to a medical exam the insurance company itself schedules – such as a second-opinion exam with its chosen doctor – should also be covered. The key question is whether the trip was reasonably necessary to get treatment the employer is responsible for. A visit to your family doctor for an unrelated illness would not count.
Louisiana does not set its own workers’ comp mileage figure from scratch. Instead, the law ties it to the rate the State of Louisiana pays its own employees for driving their personal vehicles on state business. When that rate changes, the workers’ comp rate changes with it. The Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration has announced the following rates:
| Date of travel | Mileage rate |
|---|---|
| January 1 – December 31, 2025 | $0.70 per mile |
| January 1 – June 30, 2026 | $0.725 per mile |
| July 1, 2026 – present | $0.76 per mile |
Important: the rate depends on the date you made the trip, not the date you were hurt. That is different from your weekly wage benefits, where the maximum rate is locked in by your injury date. If you turn in a mileage log covering trips both before and after July 1, 2026, the trips before July 1 should be paid at 72.5¢ and the trips after at 76¢.
Say you live 15 miles from your physical therapist – a 30-mile round trip – and your doctor orders therapy three times a week for eight weeks:
Add in your doctor visits, an MRI, and pharmacy runs, and it is easy for an injured worker to be owed $1,000 or more over the course of a claim. For workers in rural parishes who drive an hour or more each way to a specialist in Baton Rouge, the total can be much higher.
The insurance company will not pay mileage it doesn’t know about. To protect yourself:
Under Louisiana law, mileage is treated as part of your medical benefits, and medical benefits must be paid within 60 days after the insurer receives written notice of them. When an insurer fails to pay on time without a valid reason, it can be ordered to pay penalties and attorney fees on top of the mileage itself. Underpaying – for example, paying an old rate or using one rate for trips that span a rate change – can also be a violation.
If your mileage has been ignored, short-paid, or denied, you can file a dispute with the Office of Workers’ Compensation. Because the penalty and attorney fee provisions can come into play, a mileage dispute is often worth more than the mileage alone.
Some injured workers cannot safely drive because of their injury, a cast or brace, or their medication. If that is your situation, you are not stuck. The law makes the employer responsible for the actual expenses you reasonably and necessarily incur to get to your medical treatment, and that is not limited to driving your own car. If you need to take an Uber, Lyft, taxi, or other ride to get to an appointment, the reasonable cost of that trip should be reimbursed.
You do not need the adjuster’s permission before you take the ride. Just keep the receipt for every trip, note which appointment it was for, and submit the receipts to the adjuster in writing along with your mileage log. If a family member or friend drives you in their car, the mileage for those trips should be reimbursed as well.
Mileage is one of the most commonly overlooked benefits in a Louisiana workers’ comp claim. If you’ve been driving to appointments and haven’t been reimbursed – or you aren’t sure your checks and benefits are right – the attorneys at Estes Davis Law can review your claim. We offer a free, confidential consultation. Call us at (225) 336-3394. Se habla español.
Related reading: Who Chooses Your Doctor After a Louisiana Work Injury and How Much Will My Louisiana Workers’ Comp Checks Be in 2026?
This article is general information about Louisiana law and is not legal advice. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; every case depends on its own facts. For advice about your situation, please consult an attorney.
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