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Two Orlando hospitals won't bill Pulse shooting victims

Ashley May
USA TODAY
Many Pulse shooting victims were taken to Orlando Health hospital in June.

Orlando Health and Florida Hospital have not billed victims of June's Pulse nightclub shooting and don't plan to, hospital officials say.

Orlando Health bills "could exceed $5 million" the hospital said in a statement. Instead of asking Pulse patients to pay, the hospital is looking to state and federal funds, private insurance, disability insurance, Florida's crime victim compensation program, funding sources established for individual victims, means-tested programs including Medicaid, and charity care provided by Orlando Health.

"As for future medical treatments and costs, we can't predict the future needs of these patients, their financial situations, or what the state or federal governments may require us to do for charity policies," Kena Lewis, a spokesperson with the hospital, told USA TODAY. "So, while we can't assume we will provide free care forever, we will use our very generous charity and financial assistance policies to assess the best way to ensure our patients get quality care here at Orlando Health in the most fiscally responsible manner."

In a few weeks, Orlando Health plans to reveal a memorial dedicated to the victims of the mass shooting on its property.

Florida Hospital paid bills of the 12 Pulse shooting victims it treated, totaling about $525,400, according to Samantha Kearns O’Lenick, executive director of corporate communications at the hospital.

Additionally, Florida Hospital donated $250,000 to the OneOrlando Fund.

“We hope this gesture can add to the heart and goodwill that defines Orlando,” President & CEO Daryl Tol said in a statement.

Forty-nine people died and more than 50 were wounded in the shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, when Omar Mateen opened fire there June 12.

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