NYC shootings cost taxpayers at least $350 million in hospital bills

 Shootings in the Big Apple are bleeding taxpayers to death.

Americans collectively spent at least $350 million to treat gunshot wounds in New York City hospitals alone over the course of a decade — with Brooklyn and the Bronx accounting for more than 70% of the city’s medical bill.

Federal taxpayers — all of whom chip in for Medicaid and Medicare — were on the hook for between $30 million and $40 million annually to cover the cost of treating gunshot wounds across the five boroughs between 2010 and 2020, according to a new report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

In comparison, private spending was less than $60 million for the same decade-long period.

The researchers, who analyzed data on over 10,400 hospital claims in New York State’s healthcare billing system, told The Post that this is not a local problem, but in fact, an issue that the whole country should be made aware of.

Putting a price tag on the city’s gun violence may help the problem get attention from communities less directly affected by the problem, Dr. Jeffrey Butts, head of the Research & Evaluation Center at John Jay, said.

The researchers analyzed data on over 10,400 hospital claims in New York State’s healthcare billing system.

Paul Martinka

“People should not delude themselves into thinking that if they live in a rural farm community, they do not have to worry about urban gun violence — because they are paying for that,” Butts said.

Brooklyn got the most taxpayer dough — $132 million; followed by the Bronx at $116 million; Manhattan, nearly $50 million; Queens, $42 million; and Staten Island, $11 million.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/07/nyc-shootings-cost-taxpayers-at-least-350-million-in-hospital-bills/