OUR HISTORY

Health Care For All NC began in a living room in Durham, North Carolina, in 1994.  Dr. Carol Kirschenbaum gathered with several physicians interested in universal health care. They knew well about health care inequality and wasted health care dollars. The small group met monthly and formed a chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP).

In December of that year, the NC Health Planning Commission released a landmark report that highlighted that more than 900,000 North Carolinians were uninsured and outlined the potential savings in both lives and dollars with a single-payer system. Even without single payer, with some fundamental reforms, there could be significant savings and waste reduction.

It soon became clear that the organization needed broader representation than doctors alone. In 1997, the group followed a Massachusetts example and took the name NC Committee to Defend Health Care.

For the next period, organizing and education centered on using the Health Planning Commission report as a rational framework to promote health care as a right and legislation that the right to health care be written into the State constitution. There was a period of intense activity with the election of Verla Insko to the NC House in 1997 and strong support from Dr. James Bryan, then president of the NC Medical Society. In 1999, NC Rep. Insko filed a bill that would guarantee the right to health care for North Carolinians.

The NC Committee continued to meet monthly in the Triangle. Across the state, they put on public events, attended community fairs and presented at church meetings. There was lobbying in Raleigh along with press conferences to get media attention. The group grew beyond physicians, and gradually won endorsements by more than 70 local and state organizations for the “right to health care” and for a constitutional amendment.

The Committee also matured as an organization, adopting bylaws and electing officers. Sadly, founder and leader Dr. Kirschenbaum passed away in June 2005, but the organization she founded carries on.

The IRS granted us full 501(c)3 status in 2006 and two years later, the group officially changed its name to Health Care For All NC.

More than 25 years after its founding, Health Care For All NC continues to fight for single-payer health care, including its most recent incarnation, Improved and Expanded Medicare for All.

  • People standing on the sidewalk at the Moral Monday march. In the middle is HCFANC Jonathan Kotch in his white coat holding his hands behind his back.

    June 2013 — HCFANC provides white coats for Moral Monday movement

    When NC NAACP President Rev. William Barber put out a call for health professionals to gather in Raleigh to denounce the draconian policies of the General Assembly, members of Health Care For All NC answered the call. As part of his involvement in the movement, Dr. Jonathan Kotch engaged in civil disobedience.

  • People holding signs and raising their fists in support of worker's rights to the need for a national health program. They are standing in front of a gray building in Winston-Salem that says "Piedmont Leaf Lofts" in white text.

    July 2014 — Winston-Salem Healthcare Workers United speak-out and march

    In an attempt to unionize workers at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, Health Care For All NC board members organized a speak-out and march tying workers’ rights to the need for a national health program. The workers at Novant Health who were most exploited were uninsured and being paid poverty wages.

  • December 2014 — Human Rights Day press conference

    Health Care For All NC members organized a press conference on Human Rights Day to address the North Carolina legislature’s violation of Article 25 of the U.N. for its refusal to expand Medicaid to 500,000 North Carolinians.

  • November 2017 — Creation of Duke University SNaHP chapter

    Members of Health Care For All NC facilitated initial meetings with Duke medical students who founded the state’s first SNaHP chapter.

  • January 2018 — Medicare for All Rally in Durham

    Health Care For All NC and other coalition partners organized a Medicare-for-All rally attended by groups from across North Carolina, including the Winston-Salem DSA and the NC Council of Churches.

  • June 2019 — AMA Get Out of the Way! Campaign

    Health Care For All NC members initiated and spearheaded a campaign to pressure the American Medical Association to divest from Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, a dark money group devoted to crushing the Medicare for All movement. From North Carolina, A national coalition was organized and coordinated from North Carolina. Coalition members included PNHP, National Nurses United, People’s Action, Public Citizen, The Center for Popular Democracy.

    You can read Jonathan Michels' analysis about the campaign and the AMA’s withdrawal from the Partnership for Jacobin Magazine here.

  • People standing outside a building in Charlotte holding signs, banners, and cameras. One man standing on the right is speaking to a group on the left. The banner says "Improved Medicare for ALL Simple, Sensible, Proudly American!"

    September 2019 — Southern Workers Assembly Medicare for All rally in Charlotte

    Health Care For All NC members participated in the SWA’s Workers School as they discussed a campaign to rally workers around Medicare for All.

  • November 2023 — HCFANC 2023 Annual Meeting

    Health Care for All NC hosted our annual meting connecing healthcare advocates and highilighting speaker Dr.Taylor Walker, a labor organizer and abortion rights advocate.

  • January 2024 — American Hospitals Film Screening and Panel

    Health Care for All NC partnered with the Triad Workers Triad Workers Assembly, the Southern Workers Assembly and the North Carolina Medicare for All Coalition to put on a film screening of the documentary American Hospitals: A Broken System with a panel of health care workers to disucss after.

  • February 2024 — Moral March on Raleigh

    Health Care for All NC supported the Poor People Campaign’s Moral Mach on Raleigh to advocate for health care for all.