Two Orlando Hospitals Won't Bill Orlando Shooting Survivors

Two hospitals in Orlando have said they will not charge survivors of the massacre at a gay nightclub in June that left 49 people dead and dozens of wounded.

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Orlando Health and Florida Hospital will not bill survivors “for out-of-pocket medical expenses,” officials announced Thursday, and said they would instead write off an estimated US$5 million.

That figure does not include the costs accrued to the families of the nine victims who died at the hospital, and who also not be charged. The hospital also announced that it will explore options for helping the victims pay for ongoing medical treatment and physical therapy costs.

 

The announcement was a source of great relief for relatives and survivors, one of who told the Orlando Sentinel that he was uninsured and that his bill to treat a gunshot wound was US$20,000.

On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others inside the Pulse gay nightclub. Over 95 percent of the victims were Latino. The medical center treated 44 of the 53 victims.

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Mateen, a self-proclaimed jihadist, was shot and killed by police officers at the nightclub, at the crime scene of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The Islamic State group has said it was behind the attack, but police said there is no evidence that Mateen had collaborated with the organization.

Reports suggested the attacker used several gay dating apps and communicated with several users, and his ex-wife claimed he was gay.

With not single-payer health insurance program in the U.S. the country's for-profit health care system accounts for the highest per-capita costs of any developed country in the world.