A year after Noble Health closed two rural Missouri hospitals, former employees and patients are asking for justice as they go without pay, face mounting medical bills, and struggle to move on with their lives.
A year after private equity-backed Noble Health shuttered two rural Missouri hospitals, patients and former employees grapple with a broken local health system or missing out on millions in unpaid wages and benefits.
The hospitals in Audrain and Callaway counties remain closed as a slew of lawsuits and state and federal investigations grind forward.
In March, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey confirmed a civil investigation. He had previously told local talk radio that there was an “ongoing” investigation into “the hospital issue.”
Bailey’s comment came weeks after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration notified executives tied to Noble Health, a startup, that they had violated federal laws and asked them to pay $5.4 million to cover unpaid employee health insurance claims, according to a 13-page letter detailing “interim findings” that was obtained by KHN.
The January letter confirms KHN’s previous reporting, which was informed by employees and patients who described missing paychecks; receiving unexpected, high-dollar medical bills; and going without care, including cancer treatment. According to the letter from federal investigators, the Noble hospitals and their corporate owners collected employee contributions for medical, dental and vision insurance in 2021 and 2022 but then failed to fund the insurance plans.
The owners and executives were “aware of the harm to participants and, in some cases, were attempting to resolve individual participant complaints,” the letter states, adding that “despite the volume and gravity of complaints and bills received,” they failed to respond.
She told KHN the family owes at least $8,000 for son Ryder’s specialty care in St. Louis, with $6,000 of that in collections. As a Noble employee, Hagedorn said, she was told repeatedly that her employee health insurance would cover Ryder’s care. It didn’t.
Noble has “done everybody dirty,” she said. “We just would like for some responsibility to be taken by this company that didn’t feel the need to get their act together.”
Hagedorn’s story of unpaid bills, which was first reported by the local newspaper, the Mexico Ledger, is common among former Noble employees a year after the hospitals closed.
