MUHC to lower parking rates
As of April 1, first half hour is free and maximum daily price drops $1
For the second time since 2015, the McGill University Health Centre is lowering its controversial parking rates — this time to comply with a provincial order, the Montreal Gazette has learned.
As of April 1, the maximum daily rate will drop by a buck to $24, still the highest of any hospital in the province. The maximum rate will also only kick in after four hours rather than 90 minutes. And the first half-hour of parking will be free instead of $10.
The changes are in response to a directive issued last year by the Quebec Health Department after an outcry from patients and their families, who argued that the hefty parking rates constituted a “disguised health tax” and hindered access to care.
The MUHC is among the last health organizations to comply with the directive, which actually took effect on Nov. 30. However, the government gave hospitals an extension until April 1 after some administrators complained that they didn’t have enough time to make the changes.
“We are, of course, happy that the new rates will be more advantageous to many patients,” said Pierre Hurteau, co-president of the Central Users Committee of the MUHC.
“We wish that this decision could have come a lot earlier than April 1. The new policy from the (Health Department) was issued on Aug. 28, six months ago. We still think that patients suffered an unnecessary financial burden during all that time because of the excessive rates.”
It was largely because of the efforts of Hurteau and the MUHC Users Committee, which had filed a complaint with the provincial Ombudsman, that the government adopted the new parking directive lowering rates for hospitals across the province. Still, Hurteau took issue with the fact that the MUHC’s parking rates are higher than those of neighbouring commercial lots.
The directive stipulates that hospital rates must not exceed the going market rates for parking in each neighbourhood.
Imma Franco, the MUHC’s director of technical services in charge of the parking dossier, defended the revised rates as fair, considering that the hospital network must pay back a loan with interest amounting to $266 million for the construction of the underground lot at the Glen site superhospital.
“The (directive) is clear when it comes to the maximum rates,” Franco said. “It doesn’t dictate what the maximum rates should be. It says that the first 30 minutes should be free and the maximum rate comes after four hours.”
“The government expects (health) establishments to finance the parking facilities,” she added.
“At the MUHC, we built a brand new hospital with all our visitor and patient parking underground. We have an obligation to pay for that. Other hospitals might have outdoor parking.”
The Jewish General Hospital is operating a new underground lot as well, and its maximum daily rate is $20. The JGH’s $20 rate will remain as of April 1, but it will lower some of its other rates. For example, the fee to park for up to 90 minutes will drop to $16 from $18.
The Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) lowered its maximum daily rate to $21 from $22 two days before the Nov. 30 deadline.
On the West Island, where most parking is free, the Lakeshore General Hospital had charged its maximum daily rate, $14, after 90 minutes. In fiscal 2014-2015, the Lakeshore’s parking profits topped $2 million and have tripled since 2009. A hospital official did not respond to an emailed query on Monday asking what the maximum daily rate will be on April 1.
The MUHC’s multi-site day pass will go down as well to $24, and it will maintain special discount passes. The clinical long-term pass is $70, valid for 30 days for patients with a wide range of medical conditions. The discount rate for cancer patients had gone up slightly in 2015, but the long-term pass now applies to all patients, not only those with cancer.
Franco defended the fact the MUHC rate is still the highest in the province, noting that most people will fork out $22 for parking at the Glen site (and not the maximum rate of $24), because they spend from one to four hours at the hospital.
People with low incomes can apply for complimentary passes with the MUHC’s social-service department, Franco added.
The maximum daily rates at the Montreal General and Montreal Neurological will drop to $24. Those hospitals are part of the MUHC, and neither operates new parking facilities.
Franco confirmed the surplus revenues from the parking revenues of those hospitals goes toward the MUHC’s operating budget.
Health Minister Gaétan Barrette was reluctant initially to decrease parking rates. But the minister changed his position after the Ontario government announced last year that its hospitals had to freeze or cut in half their parking rates. Daily rates as low as $10 were frozen immediately.