Last Updated on June 12, 2025
For decades, aging often meant a slow retreat from the independence of our earlier years. One of the biggest turning points came when seniors lost the ability to drive—whether due to health, vision, access to a vehicle, or safety concerns. Losing the ability to get behind the wheel didn’t just mean fewer errands or social outings. It often marked the beginning of a shrinking world and increased dependence on others, especially regarding healthcare.
Today that narrative has changed. Thanks to services like Uber, older adults are rewriting what this stage of life can look like. No longer tethered to the availability of family members or limited by public transit, seniors now have access to affordable, reliable transportation at their fingertips.
Whether it’s a ride to a doctor’s appointment, a senior center, or a delivery of groceries and prescriptions right to their doorstep, Uber is helping older adults stay connected, cared for and in control. What was once a season of loss is now, for many, a time of newfound freedom, autonomy, and choices.
The road ahead is no longer defined by limitations— it’s wide open with possibilities.
A Game-Changing Benefit for Independent Aging
As one of the world’s largest technological companies, Uber was uniquely positioned to revolutionize the healthcare industry in the United States with their services. By launching Uber Health and partnering with many Medicare Advantage (MA) providers across the country, older adults can now pair their flex plans with Uber, to use their insurance to pay for transportation and deliveries.
Growing Bolder spoke with Dr. Joshua Sclar, Chief Clinical and Public Health Advisor at Uber, to understand how this benefit is already changing millions of lives.
“Uber Health is really about making healthcare easier to access and making those healthy essentials that you need to take care of yourself easier to get,” Sclar told Growing Bolder.
“It’s an incredible tool that eliminates a lot of barriers in healthcare. For almost six million people per year in the U.S., healthcare is delayed or foregone simply because of transportation issues. There are places where 30% of their appointments are just missed for transportation reasons,” Sclar expained.
Uber provides a product that is easy to use and not technologically intimidating while ensuring the safety of its users by showing the driver’s photo, car, license plate and route they will take on the trip ahead.
Thanks to their services, 68-year-old Lynn Fitzgerald’s life has completely changed. Following a stroke, Fitzgerald and her family were feeling nearly unmanageable stress during her rehabilitation. Her husband, Michael, needed to drive her 40 minutes to her medical appointments, wait two hours and then drive 40 minutes home with her. The Fitzgeralds were unsure how to manage it all, until a doctor told them about Uber.
“A doctor asked me, ‘Do you need a ride? We will call you a ride with Uber.’
” I didn’t know it was available. It’s so convenient and I don’t pay for it. It’s covered in my insurance,” Fitzgerald explained. “We started to use Uber for my doctors’ visits. It’s helped, for myself and Michael, my husband, to have freedom.”
Since adapting their transportation routine with Uber, the Fitzgerald family has been given back their peace of mind and freedom to spend their time how they prefer. Lynn is back taking care of her grandkids every Saturday night, looking forward to the joy and excitement they bring to “Nanny” and “Pop Pop.”
Delivering a Better Quality of Life
While transportation for doctor visits is a life-changing service that can be covered by MA flex plans, Uber’s services don’t end there.
“Our platform really gives people a ton of agency through their phone to get the things that they need to be healthy delivered to their home,” Sclar explained. “It may be groceries. It may be meal delivery in a pinch. It can also be over-the-counter items that are essential to health, things that you might get at the drug store, or prescription delivery too. It’s about putting that power into your hands. You pick up the phone. You get that item delivered. It’s your choice and you’re in control. I think that’s really essential to healthy independent aging.”
One 80-year-old Uber user, Joe Johnston, has paired the convenience of Uber’s delivery service with an active lifestyle to spend less time on the road and more time working out.
Johnston is a record-setting pole vaulter, the world’s best for his age group. He stays at the top of his game by training in his homemade pole vaulting barn, a DIY addition to the back of his house. Johnston is the blueprint of active longevity, proving how physical activity and a healthy diet can lead to a longer, healthier life.
“You should find something you like to do well enough you want to do it every day, something that involves a little strength, flexibility and some cardio,” Johnston says. “I work out and, of course, I watch what I eat.”
“Uber fits into this healthy lifestyle because you can choose the healthy foods that you want, you can get them quick, and it doesn’t interfere with anything,” Johnston said, while ordering fresh fruits and vegetables through the Uber app.
“We ordered our lunch today and while lunch was coming, we had a little pole vault session for 30 minutes and had a great time,” Johnston added.
On Our Way to a Healthier Future
Perhaps the most revolutionary part of Uber’s services isn’t how they are helping older adults get out more, but where they are taking them.
Recent studies have proven that social isolation has been proven to be just as harmful to our health as smoking and obesity as we age. The problem has become so large that a recent U.S. Surgeon General declared we are facing a loneliness epidemic.
66-year-old Lucy Otero had just retired when she began to feel the effects of loneliness setting in on her life. She had always been a self-described “party girl,” and admits she wasn’t prepared for the feelings of social isolation to take hold so quickly.
“I did something I thought I would never do. I got on the internet and I Googled ‘senior citizen centers’ and a bunch of them popped up.”
Otero used Uber to begin going to one of the Osceola Council on Aging senior centers and immediately found her spark of life return.
“I began to meet people there. I made so many friends there and we do so many things, not only at the center but outside of the center. We do day trips, we take art classes, we do all kinds of activities,” Otero said.
With her newfound community, Otero rediscovered her lifelong passion for partying.
“I love to party. Getting out and being social fulfills my life. It’s so important to who I am, the core person that I am,” Otero continued. “I love theme parties. We dress up together and celebrate holidays with music and dancing.”
Otero’s advice for others is simple. “Uber represents freedom, it represents joy,” Otero says. “There’s no need for you to be at home feeling concerned, ‘How am I going to get this done?’ If Uber is a benefit that your Advantage plan provides, by all means take advantage of it.”
Otero is just one example of the millions of older adults nationwide who are afforded a Growing Bolder attitude through Uber.
“What we’re really doing is reframing this issue away from loss of independence towards a positive framing of ‘I have choices as I age. I don’t have to drive if I don’t want to. I can take an Uber, and it’s really up to me,’” Sclar said. “I think that’s an amazing and exciting new development that frankly just wasn’t available to people 20 years ago.”
Click here to learn more about how your Medicare Advantage health plan benefits can be used for qualifying Uber rides and deliveries.
Check your coverage for eligibility. Eligibility varies by health plans.
This article was created in partnership with our friends at Uber Health.
