When Marie Grgic’s mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she said her father had to use her retirement funds to finance costs related to her treatment.
Cancer costs the average patient almost $ 33,000, which includes pocket expenses and lost income, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
“The cost of cancer is parking, it is the attention, they are the hospital visits, they are the beds of the hospital, the medicine,” Grgic said.
“Why do we have to enter our retirement funds, our credit cards, our credit lines when we have an OHIP card?”
GRGIC is among those who support the bill of a private member who seeks to eliminate parking fees in the hospital in Ontario, introduced after New Scotland withdraw them earlier this month. The bill is unlikely to be approved. But the impact on hospital financing, application and equity for those without vehicles must be addressed, says a policy expert.
The NDP MPP Jeff Burch (Niagara Center) presented a motion on Wednesday to eliminate rates for patients, families and hospital workers, the second attempt of the party to address the problem in less than a year.
“This is a proposal of common sense, which makes life more affordable and improve access to medical care,” Burch said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Bill would eliminate the financial burden, says the defender
The Canadian Cancer Society is among those who support the NDP bill, said Hillary Buchan-Terlll, defense manager of the Ontario organization.
Despite the universal medical care system in Canada, cancer patients feel they face an unfair load of additional costs when they pursue treatment, he said.
“People feel they have to steal their future to pay for their present,” he said.
While cancer patients often face frequent visits to the hospital, Buchan-Terlll said parking fees can accumulate for anyone who needs to go to the hospital regularly.
Grgic said the proposed bill “would have made a big difference” for his father.
His mother died in November 2016, after his father sold his assets to finance his treatment. Now he lives with Grgic’s family, an example of the “domino effect” of cancer costs, he said.
“He sold his home,” Grgic said. “Seeing him not being able to travel as freely as he would have liked, it’s heartbreaking.”
Medical care providers of the Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto are offering workshops to support the unique needs of younger patients between the ages of 18 and 39, such as the management of student debt while undergoing treatment.
Grgic, who was diagnosed with cancer in November 2022, said he spent about $ 400 per month in parking passes in the hospital for at least a year while undergoing treatment.
She said she and her husband opened credit lines and entered into debt of credit cards to finance expenses related to their care.
“This motion would eliminate that financial burden for so many families [and] His caregivers, “he said.
The Ontario Nurses Association also fully supports the motion, said Erin Ariss, provincial president of the union.
“The cost of living is astronomical,” he said. “This, together with our salary that does not maintain the torque with inflation, has created a great burden for nurses and health professionals.”
BC reinstated parking paid in hospitals in 2022
The hospitals in Ontario began charging for parking in the 1980s after an impulse from the provincial government at that time “for hospitals to execute more as companies,” said Dr. Michael Rachlis, a public health doctor and professor at the Dalla Lana Lana School of Public Health of the University of Toronto.
The parking lot could cost up to $ 1,000 per month in some hospitals until 2016, when the Ontario government, under Kathleen Wynne, put restrictions on rates, he said. Now, he said that parking rates in hospitals usually maximum of around $ 350 per month.
The Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, seemed to refer to this existing policy at a press conference on Wednesday, saying that the limits already exist in parking fees.
“I understand that there are challenges when people want and need to visit our hospitals, but there is also the other side where we want to invest in people, in teams, in capital, and that is what we have been doing with our investments,” he said.
If hospitals stop charging for parking, they could lose approximately $ 50 and $ 100 million in funds in Ontario, Rachlis said. Hospitals use parking income for daily budget operations, he said.
If they lose that money and are not replaced, “that means that patients are going to get worse,” he said.
“The provincial government should not obtain any credit to eliminate the hospital parking fees unless they provide that landfill to hospitals,” Rachlis said.
Earlier this month, New Scotland eliminated parking fees for all medical care centers. According to a press release, from April, the bases that depend on income rates will have a deficit covered by the provincial government, according to a April press release.
New Scotland will spend an estimate of $ 19 million annually on the change, according to the statement. A ticket validation system will be implemented in some places to ensure that patients, visitors and personnel use a free parking lot.
If Ontario eliminates hospital parking fees, Rachlis said the government must also take the initiative of how free parking would be implemented and applied.
British Columbia restored the parking lot paid at the hospital facilities in March 2022 after spending renunciation rates of $ 20 million for just over two years. Non -hospitable users were taking parking places, which made it difficult for patients, staff and visitors to estimate, according to a statement at that time.
A new study paints a terrible image of the extreme stress that affects many of Ontario’s health workers. The study authors interviewed more than two dozen workers, including nurses, PSW and cleaners and say that if not immediate measures are taken, it could have a devastating impact on the health system already tensioned. Tyler Cheese of CBC has the story.
Poorer in Ontario excluded, says the policy expert
While requiring free parking in hospitals would benefit car owners, Rachlis said there would be no benefit for people who most need financial support.
“The poorest people in this province, in this country, do not have motor vehicles,” he said.
“Every time we subsidize people with cars and do not put the money in public transport, we are worsening those people.”
Rachlis said he believes that the government should spend more money on public transport every time it implements a policy that benefits vehicles owners.
“There are many people who will not benefit at all from this [bill] If they don’t have a car and are taking their ubers to visit someone and support him at the hospital, “Rachlis said.
“And there are other people who will have to pay more money in taxes to support the hospitals we have, because parking fees will be lost.”
