New Dad Charged $138 For Hospital Parking — If He 'Lost' His Ticket It Would Have Been $30
Charging a hospital parking fee really adds insult to injury (no pun intended).
Monkey Business Images | Shutterstock Hospital patients and their families know all too well how much it costs to receive basic medical care in America. When they charge exuberant parking fees, it only adds insult to injury!
One dad called out the hospital where his daughter was born after they charged him $20 a day for parking — especially since it would have been cheaper had he misplaced his ticket.
The new dad was charged $138 over six days for hospital parking.
After the new dad and his wife welcomed their daughter into the world, they were excited to bring their bundle of joy home. However, their happiness was lightly diminished when they discovered how much they had been charged for parking their car in the hospital lot.
When the dad went to pay the ticket, he learned that the Texas hospital had charged him a grand total of $138 for six days.
However, perhaps the most absurd part of it all is that had the dad lost his parking ticket, he would have been charged significantly less.
Viewers who paid attention to the ticket machine noticed a “lost ticket” charge at the bottom of only $30. So, had the dad discarded the evidence, he could have saved himself over $100!
Ultimately, the real issue is that a hospital is charging for parking at all.
Some patients are required to stay at the hospital for extended periods if they are undergoing long-term treatments such as chemotherapy, dialysis, or surgical procedures. Regular parking fees can add up quickly on top of the medical expenses patients are facing.
Many patients are also encouraged to follow up with their doctors after certain medical procedures, but constantly paying parking fees may deter them from doing so, potentially putting their health at risk and prolonging their recovery.
“Charging for parking at a hospital is diabolical,” one TikTok user commented. “Ridiculous. You should never have to pay for parking at the hospital,” another wrote.
While not all hospitals charge patients and visitors for parking, most in urban and suburban areas do.
These charges are often intended to manage congestion, make the most of limited space, and combat the rising costs for healthcare facilities.
Still, many patients, visitors, and even hospital staff argue that parking charges should be eliminated. They contribute to the stress that patients and their loved ones encounter daily and may even deter low-income patients from visiting the hospital at all.
Not to mention, staff are often charged the same fees simply to park to go to their job.
A paper published in the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences highlighted the absurdity of hospital parking charges, especially for those undergoing chemotherapy treatments requiring frequent visits to the hospital.
“That’s a major concern when you tell them they need to come to the hospital every single day for the next five or six weeks,” Dr. Mustafa Al Balushi, a radiation oncology resident at the University of Alberta, wrote in the paper, adding that he regularly has conversations with concerned patients regarding parking fees.
Hospitals are marketed as places of healing and accessible care for those who need it. However, putting a price tag on parking, especially one as steep as the new dad encountered, seems inconsistent with their mission. Then again, the American healthcare system is notoriously profit-driven.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.