Californians racked up $87.4 million in direct hospital costs from gun assaults in 2010, nearly half of which was paid for by public insurance, according to a new report.

In addition to the public insurance programs such as Medi-Cal used to pay for treating these injuries, 17.1 percent of people in California hospitalized as a result of gun assaults were uninsured, said the report by the Urban Institute research organization. Care in those cases is sometimes uncompensated, so costs are passed to the public through higher premiums, said Embry Howell, senior fellow at the Urban Institute and co-author of the report.

"Any way you split it, it's a big number for California," Howell said.

In California, 14.3 people per 100,000 people were treated at a hospital for a firearm-violence injury in 2010, just below the national average of 14.4 per 100,000, the report said. Males ages 15 to 24 were the most likely group to be hospitalized for such wounds, both nationally and in California.

The report included only firearm crimes such as homicide, robbery and aggravated assault. Self-inflicted wounds were not included.

Researchers analyzing the costs and victims of gun violence examined six states - California, Arizona, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey and Wisconsin.

Young African Americans were victimized by shootings at rates far higher than other demographic groups, the study found.

Among black males in California ages 18 to 34, the gunshot hospitalization rate in 2010 was 683.2 per 100,000 people. For African American women, it was 100.4 per 100,000 people, the study found. Both figures were the highest of the six states in the survey.

In contrast, 40.3 white males ages 15 to 34 were hospitalized in shootings in 2010, the Urban Institute said.

"We know this kind of violence is highly concentrated in particular areas," Howell said.

Since the public often pays for gun-violence treatment, the report concluded that significant public funds could be saved if gun-violence prevention strategies were more effective.

The hard part, Howell said, is figuring out how to reach out to the people affected. She suggested one way would be to contact them while they're in the hospital.

"It's a time that you have a captive audience, at least, to try to find out what's happening in their lives to stop the pattern of violence," Howell said.