ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Even before the sun came up in Cocoa, drug addicts showed up by the bus load to a treatment center for their daily dose of methadone.

"You get very sick if you miss a dose,” said Michael Nathan, one of those patients.

Methadone suppresses dangerous withdrawal symptoms and recovering addicts must get the treatment everyday.

"I missed one day, one time, and I'll never do it again," said Nathan.

The drug can also make it dangerous to drive, so many patients chose to arrive by taxi and 9 Investigates has learned, many times, those cab rides are paid for by a state funded Medicaid program.

"I was stunned,” said a former taxi driver who didn't want to be identified because he is looking for another job.

He and other drivers said the rides for methadone patients are expensive.

"If they went seven days a week, at $40 round trip each day that's $280 a week," said the driver.

Some Medicaid cab rides can cost even more. Nine Investigates watched driver after driver leave meters running while the fare was getting help.

The state doesn't keep track of how many methadone patients it transports by taxi. It lumps them in with a category called "non-emergency medical transportation," in which the state spent more than $12-million in Central Florida last year. Statewide, the number is $70-million.

"It is a lot of money," said Dyke Snipes, who is Florida's Medicaid Director.

Snipes said the program is a good use of taxpayer money.

"We think it is. Medicaid is all about providing access, affordable, quality healthcare," said Snipes.

The Medicaid office said it does recommend patients take the bus because if saves money.

Taxi drivers say the message isn't getting through to patients.

"Half of the people we carry are perfectly capable of hopping on a bus and going to the doctor’s office," said a taxi driver.

On the day we met up with Nathan, he did take the bus and thinks other patients should do the same.

"If you need Medicaid that’s one thing, but to take a cab, that's a little more than needed,” said Nathan.

When taxis do sit outside with their meter running, it costs a passenger about an additional $24.00 an hour. Statewide, the budget for non emergency transport is being cut by four percent next year.