I haven’t seen Sicko, Michael Moore’s new film about the costs and problems with American healthcare, but I do think it’s important to put the spotlight on difficult and contentious issues. Certainly healthcare is a pressing concern, and one that we should have a national dialogue about. Whether Mr. Moore’s movie jump-starts that dialogue is yet to be seen, but it raises another important point through an interesting omission.

Several studies have shown that the treatment of gunshot wounds can add a staggering cost to our already burdened healthcare system. Estimates vary depending on methodology, but they range from tens of thousands of dollars for a single shooting victim to be cared for at an emergency room, to a total lifetime medical cost of billions of dollars in total treatment costs. Many of these costs are picked up by the public.

Last November, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel took a closer look at the cost of treating gun violence victims in Milwaukee.

The average charge for a gunshot victim admitted to Froedtert Hospital was more than $38,000 last year, when the hospital treated 236 such patients.

Those cases alone totaled about $9 million. Froedtert and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin also treated at least 226 other gunshot cases last year for which average charges were not available.

The Journal Sentinel’s three-part series on the price of gun violence is very well researched, and is recommended reading for anyone concerned with gun violence or healthcare costs.

Regardless of a person’s position on privatizing, socializing, or reforming healthcare, mandatory insurance, or a host of other issues, it’s clear that a discussion of America’s health care costs must contain an honest appraisal of the medical and financial toll gun violence takes on our society. The price is simply too high to ignore.