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Hospital bills forgiven for Colorado shooting victims

Hospitals caring for uninsured victims of the Aurora shooting say they may forgive some medical bills.

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Andy Cross/AP
Bonnie Kate Pourciau, 18, a victim of the Aurora movie theater mass shooting, right, speaks from her hospital bed Wednesday afternoon, as her mother, Kathleen, center, and father, Trace, listen at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colo.
  • By Kristen Wyatt Associated Press

| Denver

Three hospitals taking care of people wounded in the Colorado theater shooting say they will limit or completely wipe out medical bills for the victims.

Some victims, many of them young, are uninsured and face mounting medical expenses.

Children's Hospital Colorado announced Wednesday it would use donations and its charity care fund to cover the medical expenses of the uninsured victims. For those with insurance, the hospital will waive all co-pays.

HealthOne, which owns the Medical Center of Aurora and Swedish Medical Center, also said it will limit or eliminate charges based on the individual circumstances of the patients.

The other two hospitals, Denver Health Medical Center and University of Colorado Hospital, wouldn't directly say what they would do. However, they are the state's top two safety net hospitals and pointed out they provided a combined $750 million in free care last year.

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