Over the next month the Mexico Ledger will be running articles about former Audrain Community Hospital employees who were having money withheld from their paychecks for insurance premiums, however that money was not being sent where is was supposed to be.

This is the story of Heather Welch who started working for SSM in Apr. 2013 in central scheduling and ER registration as needed.. Most people may be aware that SSM sold the hospital in January 2021, SSM Health reached an agreement with Noble Health who became the new owners.

"I had no issues working for Noble at first. I thought everything was fine. Insurance premiums were being taken out of my paycheck since August April , 2021. My daughter Kenzi who was 19-years-old at the time has Crohn's disease," said Welch.

Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It causes swelling of the tissues (inflammation) in your digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition.

"My daughter was receiving infusions of a biologic drug every 8 weeks. We were told when she started treatment that this was a long term drug, possibly lifetime, as long as treatment was effective. If stopped, she could experience severe flares and her body would become resistant to the drug. The drug itself was $17,000 plus the charge to infuse and the office charge. We found out in Feb. 2022, even though the premiums where held from my paycheck that the insurance claims had not been funded from Noble Health since August, and Meritain was denying claims," said Welch.

That is when Heather went to Audrain Community Hospital CEO Amy O'Brien to try and get some answers. O'Brien tells the Mexico Ledger that in Feb. 2022 she was aware the company was having difficulty paying many expenses, including funding the health claims. The corporate office asked that we let the employees know “we are working on it”. Noble Health brought in a consultant, John Parigi to try and improve the billing practices in order to get funds to cover these costs. Unfortunately, the number of vendors that needed payment to continue supplying the hospital was too great and the decision to suspend operations was made on March 25, 2022. Once Platinum assumed ownership on April 20th, we were asked to submit copies of all the employee’s medical claims to their corporate office, and they were scanned to their office. Still none of the bills have been paid," said O'Brien.

Noble Health requested a temporary license suspension for both Audrain and Callaway hospitals on March 25, 2022, noting IT issues. The company providing network and internet services was one of the vendors needing payment. About a month later, Noble Health reached a deal to sell both hospitals for an alleged $2 and a stock transfer to Platinum Team Management and Platinum Health Systems, a Texas-based company which assumed all liabilities according to the agreement, but not the physical properties.  

Heather Welch is now stuck with $52,000 in medical bills, that does not include the $10,000 in wages she is still owed plus the $3,000 in premiums that were withheld.

"Our doctor's office had to stop my daughter's infusions since they had not been paid. After 2 months of not having infusions, she started having symptoms. By July her symptoms had become severe. In November, she was finally able to start a new treatment plan. Luckily, her doctor's office has been very patient with us and understands what is going on with the hospital. I just hope these issues can be resolved because I cannot pay a $52,000 medical bill," said Welch.

Like many other former employees of the hospital, Welch has had to find a new job. Mexico's Fluid Power Support has stepped up and hired some of the employees needing work. Mark Korman the owner of Fluid Power Supply has found work at his company for several of the displaced workers, anticipating that the ownership would change and the hospital would re-open. He wanted to ensure that we had employees to re-open the hospital under new ownership. Now that we know it will be a while for the hospital to re-open, Heather is looking to find a job where she is able to use her new Master’s in Healthcare Administration which she will complete in May 2023, and is grateful to Mark Korman for providing employment during this difficult time.

Their is currently a class action lawsuit being planned by LearWerts law firm against the former owners of the hospital as they have reached out to former employees who were impacted by lost wages and money being taken out of their checks for insurance that never materialized.

The Mexico Ledger will bring you another story in the Saturday, 01/28/2023 paper. As our special series of In their own words: Former hospital employees stories on abandoned health insurance continues.