Ontario Will Cut Outrageous Hospital Parking Fees Later This Year

Picture this: a man speeds to the hospital with his wife in severe labour, on the verge of giving birth in the passenger seat. They arrive at the hospital seemingly in the nick of time, but there’s a hold up – a parking fee. It simply must be paid.

By the time the man scrounges up the necessary change to feed the meter, his wife will have already begun giving birth to their child In the parking lot. But hey, at least they won’t get a parking ticket.

While this is an admittedly farfetched what if scenario, the fact that hospital patients and visitors have to worry about paying for parking on top of the inevitable stress that comes from being there in the first place is pretty outrageous.

These aren’t just minor fees, either – some hospitals charge up to $4.50/half hour or a daily maximum of $25.

As of today, however, the Ontario government is curbing the injustice, implementing a three-year freeze on Ontario hospital parking rates. Additionally, as of October 1, 2016, any hospital charging more than $10 a day to park will have to provide five-, 10- and 30-day passes that are:

– Discounted by 50 per cent off their daily rate
– Transferable between patients and caregivers
– Equipped with in-and-out privileges throughout a 24-hour period
– Good for one year from the date of purchase

“Parking fees should never be a barrier for patients when they go to the hospital,” said Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins in a press release. Reading that, it seems asinine that it ever was.

The Ontario Hospital Association, meanwhile, opposes the government’s decision.

“For the past ten years, government has actively encouraged hospitals to generate revenue to help fund hospital operations. Revenue generated from parking fees is always used for patient care, towards the purchase of capital equipment and projects, infrastructure, clinical research, and day-to-day operations such as facility maintenance,” said the OHA in a statement. “The decision to cut revenues could not come at a worse time.”

Slashed funding is a concern, of course, but relying on a parking fee model to finance healthcare seems ill-fitting of a First World nation.

“Some patients (who have often waited several weeks to see a doctor) try to end a consultation abruptly when they realize that they will have to pay for an additional hour for parking,” says Dr. Rajendra Kale, then-editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “This is parking-centred health care, which is not compatible with patient-centred health care.”

This sentiment was echoed in a CBC Marketplace report in 2013 that revealed the cost of parking was causing Canadians to miss hospital appointments and increasing their stress.

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