Visiting her grandmother in the hospital is not the way Jennifer Drummond planned on spending Easter.

“She actually was just diagnosed with lung cancer,” says Drummond.

On top of coping with her grandmother’s diagnosis, Drummond figures she’s already spent over $70 in hospital parking fees. “It does make it difficult when you have a loved one in. Especially when you're coming every day like I do. Sometimes multiple times a day,” she says of her parking expenses.

Adding insult to injury. That’s how many view the added pressure of expensive hospital parking fees.

“It really piles up. And people have their minds on other things. And they really can't address this issue,” says Chris Karabatsos as he leaves the Queensway Carleton Hospital lot.

“I think there’s a lot of people that want to come and visit who couldn’t afford it,” adds Judy McBride, accompanying her hobbling son to an x-ray appointment.

The Ontario Liberals campaigned on a promise to remedy the high cost of hospital parking - something Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins recently said is coming soon. He maintains the focus will be on frequent and long-term users.

For critics, it can’t come soon enough. “People cannot afford this,” says NDP MLA Cheri DiNovo. “Imagine if you had a sick child and you were having to pay fees 24 hours a day at a hospital parking lot. This is really a form of privatization of our health care system.”

But as much as hospital-goers would like to pay less for parking, the hospitals rely on it to help pay the bills. The Ottawa Hospital nets around $12-million in parking fees annually. Spokesperson Allison Neil says “The vast majority of revenues from parking are used to purchase medical equipment and new technologies that help us to better serve our patients who come to us for acute care.”

There’s no indication how any of that money would be replaced, if necessary, at a time when some hospitals are already laying off staff due to funding shortfalls.

It remains to be seen how the province will balance holding the line on hospital parking fees with holding the line on hospital budgets.