Who pays for medical bills after mass shootings?

Costs for gun-related injuries fall on taxpayers and employers, experts said.

by Max Zahn
ABC News
May 18, 2023

… While data for the cost of mass shooting-related injuries is limited, the treatment for health care tied to gun violence totals billions each year, drawing on public and private insurance ultimately paid by the nation’s taxpayers and employers, experts told ABC News.

… Between 2010 and 2022, the cost of initial hospital treatment for gun violence victims in New York City was borne primarily by Medicare and Medicaid, which covered at least 70% of the costs, according to a study published in December by Gina Moreno, a senior research analyst at the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College.

Since Medicare and Medicaid receive funding from the federal government, the costs fall on taxpayers nationwide, Moreno told ABC News.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a person in a small town in Utah, you as a taxpayer are covering someone who gets hurt in Queens,” Moreno said.

[ read the article ]

Colorado Springs police, the FBI and others investigate the scene of a mass shooting at Club Q on Nov. 20, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/Denver Post via Getty Images, FILE