The cost of firearm deaths in the United States: reduced life expectancies and increased insurance costs.

ABSTRACT

The United States remains far behind most other affluent countries in terms of life expectancy. One of the possible causes of this life expectancy gap is the widespread availability of firearms and the resulting high number of U.S. firearm fatalities: 10,801 homicides in 2000.

The European Union experienced 1,260 homicides, Japan only 22. Using multiple decrement techniques, I show that firearm violence shortens the life of an average American by 104 days (151 days for white males, 362 days for black males). Among all fatal injuries, only motor vehicle accidents have a stronger effect. I estimate that the elimination of all firearm deaths in the United States would increase the male life expectancy more than the total eradication of all colon and prostate cancers. My results suggest that the insurance premium increases paid by Americans as a result of firearm violence are probably of the same order of magnitude as the total medical costs due to gunshots or the increased cost of administering the criminal justice system due to gun crime.

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VIOLENT DEATHS DUE TO FIREARMS: A U.S. PHENOMENON?

Life expectancy in the United States reached a new high of 74.1 years for males and 79.5 years for females in 2000 (National Center for Health Statistics, 2002). However, the United States remains far behind most other affluent countries, with U.S. life expectancy ranking 30th for males and 29th for females among the 35 countries and territories that had a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, expressed in purchasing power, of at least $20,000 in 2000 (author's calculations from Central Intelligence Agency data, 2002). Even within the United States, the gap between the life expectancies of Caucasians and African Americans remains significant: 74.8 years versus 68.2 years for males, 80.0 years versus 74.9 years for females. (1)

The life expectancy at birth [MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is a widely accepted measure of quality of life in a society, summarizing in a single number all the natural and man-made damages that can affect an individual, ranging from poor health care systems and civil war to unhealthy nutrition and sexual behavior. It is commonly used to compare levels of public health among populations, as it summarizes mortality at all ages and is not affected by the age distribution of a population. The potential gain in life expectancy is considered one of the best measures of the impact of eradicating a disease or condition. It is preferable to using the number of years of potential life lost, which is heavily influenced by age structure and total population size and does not account for the effects of competing risks (Lai and Hardy, 1999).