Initial inpatient hospitalization costs for victims of gun violence totaled roughly $6.61 billion nationwide from 2006 to 2014, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers at the Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine analyzed data from 267,265 patients admitted for firearm-related injuries from 2006 to 2014, using data available in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database. Researchers analyzed the severity of patients' wounds, the cost of their care, where they were hospitalized and how they paid for their inpatient stay, adjusting for inflation. Patients included those who suffered shooting injuries that were self-inflicted, unintentional or due to assault.
Here are six takeaways from the study.
1. Researchers discovered government payers shouldered the greatest proportion of the costs, or roughly $2.70 billion (40.8 percent). Medicaid covered approximately $2.3 billion, while Medicare covered $400 million of the total cost.
2. Individual out-of-pocket costs accounted for $1.56 billion (23.6 percent) of the total cost.
3. The average cost per year for inpatient hospitalizations resulting from gun violence totaled $734.6 million.
4. Researchers discovered a correlation between a patient's insurance status and how they sustained their injuries. Younger and poorer individuals insured by Medicaid were often victims of assault and sustained roughly two-thirds of the total number of firearm injuries surveyed by researchers. Older, Medicare-insured individuals were more likely to suffer from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to the study.
5. Researchers discovered patients who were victims of gun violence were overwhelmingly male, according to the report.
6. Sarabeth Spitzer, a medical student at the Stanford University School of Medicine and lead author of the study, said the initial hospitalization expenses are important to understand, but they are not a true representation of the cost of firearm-related injuries in the U.S. The overall costs of firearm injuries include a plethora of other costs. "There's a cost if you're readmitted, there's long-term rehab and a lot of these patients end up needing long-term healthcare," she said.