Along with the incalculable toll on victims and their families, gun violence in the U.S. also exacts another heavy cost: More than $1 billion a year in medical bills.
That figure only accounts for the initial health costs of hospital care for people who are shot, according to a report released by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee ahead of a Wednesday hearing on the economic impact of gun violence.
"The costs are born most directly by victims and their families," Dr. Chethan Sathya, a pediatric trauma surgeon at the Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York City, said in the hearing.
For victims of fatal firearm injuries, medical costs totaled $290 million in 2020 and cost an average of $9,000 per patient, with much of the cost paid for by public health insurance providers such as Medicaid, according to the panel, citing figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
