The year 2020 was marked by overwhelming suffering from the effects of White supremacy, racial health inequities, police and state-sanctioned violence and a profit-driven healthcare system that contributed to the deaths of nearly 600,000 Americans from COVID-19.

The need for a universal, single-payer health care system has never been more urgent.

That is why on April 24, 2021, members of Health Care for All North Carolina (HCFANC) hosted their annual meeting on Zoom to underscore the essential work of organizing for Medicare for All.Speakers included Melinda St. Louis, the director of Public Citizen's Medicare-for-All campaign, who spoke about the changes in the 2021 Medicare for All Act, who sponsors it, and how we can mobilize pressure against its opponents and secure its passage.

We also heard from Dr. Uma Tadepalli, a Durham-based geriatrician and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Health Workers Collective. Dr. Tadepalli discussed her longtime support for Medicare for All and how healthcare workers must be at the forefront of the movement to achieve a universal, single-payer system.