Get to Know Idaho Billionaires: Peggy Baker
By Clyde
Peggy Baker is the daughter of Jim Mills and niece of Jon Mills, the two men who started Medline Inc. In 2021 a majority stake was sold to 3 private equity firms: Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman.
Peggy Baker currently has a net worth of $3.6B. Enough to give all 2,029,733 residents of Idaho $1,773. She could fund the entire Idaho state education budget and still have $830M.
In 2026, Medline received multiple letters from the FDA over their manufacturing quality standards at multiple sites mainly for inadequate cleaning practices and defects in syringes used in heart procedures.
It’s been documented that over the years many workers at Medline manufacturing plants have been put in hazardous conditions: blood and other potentially infectious materials leaking from bins, amputation risks from machines lacking guards and exposure to carcinogens.
In 2017 Medline workers were exposed to ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen. In 8 hours workers in the coating department were exposed to 3 times the permissible exposure limit.
Also in 2017 Medline released 2863 pounds of ethylene oxide. A little over 1900% of the allowable 150 pounds. The emissions had begun in 1994 and many residents in Lake County Illinois have filed lawsuits for harm including cancer, birth defects, and miscarriages.
Medline has repeatedly been accused of poisoning the air, as well as putting workers in unsafe situations and the people who profit from it use that money to live in some of the most beautiful places in Idaho; building 20 million dollar houses “just steps from downtown”.
Sources:
https://www.medtechdive.com/news/medline-vantage-ethylene-oxide-emissions-caused-cancer-lawsuits-claim/561963/https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1116774.015&citation_id=01001
https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1306034.015&citation_id=01001D
https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1192822.015&citation_id=01001
https://marinmurphylaw.com/2025-medline-waukegan-ethylene-oxide-lawsuit-update