Last year, a dozen employees of North Country Healthcare filed a civil lawsuit against the organization.
They alleged it had stopped paying for their health insurance even as money was still being deducted from their pay for premiums.
North Country filed for bankruptcy a short time later.
North Country Healthcare declined KNAU’s request for an interview citing the ongoing litigation.
KNAU’s Adrian Skabelund spoke with Arizona Daily Sun reporter Sam McLaughlin who broke the story.
ADRIAN SKABELUND: This civil lawsuit against North Country seemed to be kind of a canary in the coal mine in regard to the organization's financial trouble.
What do we know about North Country's finances?
SAM MCLAUGHLIN: That's a good question. What we know is evolving.
I guess the shortest version of it is: the company has declared bankruptcy and is looking to be acquired or at least partially acquired by another federally qualified health center, El Rio Health, which is based in Tucson.
AS: In addition to the civil lawsuit, it sounds like there were other signs that there was financial instability at North Country.
Can you speak through that a little bit?
SM: Yes. The company's suppliers started to effectively cut off North Country for unpaid bills.
I don't know the exact dates, but McKesson Medical Surgical, their main supplier for all of their clinic locations, stopped making deliveries around August or September of 2025, again, because of unpaid bills that likely date back some months before that.
And North Country has also had to cut back on cleaning services. And in their bankruptcy filings, there's a list of creditors there. And there are quite a few small local businesses in there to whom North Country apparently owes unpaid bills.
Those range from, you know, as little as $50 to into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So, clearly, the organization was struggling to balance its books and keep its day-to-day operations running for some time before the lawsuit and the declaration of bankruptcy.
AS: How is this impacting North Country employees?
SM: I've certainly heard people who've said that they have either had to postpone appointments as they try to figure out whether they're eligible for Arizona's AHCCCS healthcare coverage, or that they have canceled some appointments or some procedures entirely.
I think people who are looking for really critical care, for instance, people who are dealing with ongoing cancer treatment, have largely made that switch over to AHCCCS or some other form of health coverage to ensure that they can have some continuity of care.
But regardless, it's really frightening and disruptive for these employees to be in a situation where essentially the rug was pulled out from under their feet.
After North Country allegedly stopped paying the insurer, they announced in late November that they were canceling their employee health coverage for all employees effective immediately.
So, as you can imagine, that leaves people scared, upset, and in many cases, not sure how they are going to continue to access the medical care that they depend on.
AS: We invited North Country to speak with us and were told they're not in a position to grant interviews.
What have you heard from them?
SM: I've had no official response from North Country Healthcare.
I reached out to them at the beginning of my reporting to ask about these employee allegations. I was told that they could not comment because of the active litigation.
I also reached out to every member of the board of directors individually to see if they could provide any insight or any clarification on what was going on. The board of directors is supposed to fulfill an oversight role for the organization.
I did not hear back from any of the directors who I contacted individually.
I have heard allegations from at least one former employee that the board of directors was somewhat kept in the dark by the current chief executive officer of North Country. I do not know whether that's completely true, but certainly they haven't been any more communicative than executives within the organization have been.
AS: In terms of the employees that you've spoken to about this, what's the message from them?
How would they like to see this situation resolved personally?
SM: The message I've heard is, first of all, that they'd like to see employees made whole for the unexpected medical bills or medical debts that they've incurred as a result of North Country's alleged financial mismanagement.
As you and your listeners know, those kinds of medical bills, medical debts, can be really disruptive to anyone's life. So they would like employees to be compensated for that.
Second, almost everyone I spoke to said they would really like to see some accountability. They would like to know who made the decisions that led North Country into this position and that impacted employees' lives in this way. And potentially, through this civil litigation or through the bankruptcy proceedings, we might get some more information that helps bring accountability to this situation.
But finally, and maybe most importantly, everyone I spoke to really emphasized the importance of North Country's role as a community health care provider and as an organization that has worked for decades to support and to serve some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
And they would really like to see the organization get back on stable footing so that it can continue to serve that mission, continue to provide crucial services for our community, but also do so in a way that honors the employees who give their time and their efforts to that organization and treats them equitably and fairly.
AS: Sam, thank you so much for giving us some of your time today.
SM: Absolutely.
An abridged version of this interview aired on KNAU Arizona Public Radio on January 14, 2026.
