When Ashtin Gamblin remembers the night she was shot nine times, she can picture herself lying in the ambulance and worrying about whether she could afford it.
"That's how the American medical system is," she told ABC News. "I just got shot and I'm concerned about how I'm going to pay for the ambulance ride."
Gamblin worked at the front door of Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs where an attack last November left five dead and dozens injured. Bullets pierced Gamblin's arms and chest, sending her to the hospital for an emergency surgery and a six-day hospital stay, she said.
After returning home, Gamblin received a letter telling her that the health care costs totaled $300,000 and her private insurance wouldn't cover it.