Below are details on the 8 candidates running unopposed for the 8 open seats of the 2025 ISPC Board of Directors.

Please vote using the online ballot available at the end of this page. Your vote is anonymous.

If you have questions about the election process, please reach out to Linda Armitage at lindaarmi@gmail.com.

New Candidates

How long have you been a member of ISPC? 

I have been a member of ISPC for the last 12 years.
Why is single-payer health care important to you?

Single Payer is important to me because it keeps people with disabilities out of nursing homes and institutions and it prioritizes home care. I believe Home and Community-Based Services can be part of the Single-Payer Movement.

How long have you been involved in the single-payer movement? 

I have been in the single payer movement for 16 years, starting off sparely with Chicago Single Payer Action Network (C-SPAN) before I became fully involved with ISPC in 2013.

What contribution would you like to make to the ISPC Board? 

I can bring disability perspective, and I work with various activists to spread information about single-payer: the Poor People's Campaign, Alliance For Community Services, Chicago ADAPT and Northside Action For Justice (NA4J), as well as Chicagoland Autism Connection (CAC) as a board member and as a Governor-appointed member of the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities (ICDD).

What other aspects of health care justice have you been involved in? 

Other healthcare justice I have been fighting for is to preserve Medicaid and expand it, although Medicaid is not perfect as it doesn’t cover everyone. Medicare For All will cover everyone. 

How long have you been a member of ISPC? 

I have been involved with ISPC since its inception, and Health Care for All Illinois prior.
Why is single-payer health care important to you?

In short, I despise unnecessary suffering. There is almost nothing more obscene, inhumane and outright dehumanizing than class-tiered access to health care. It is a moral abomination -- in fact there is no hyperbole possible when describing the predatory, lethal impact of our alleged health care system. 

How long have you been involved in the single-payer movement? 

I first learned of single payer in 2000, while still living in Los Angeles, and I have said since, "Once you know, you can't not know." 

What contribution would you like to make to the ISPC Board? 

I hope to continue creating media, and irritate electeds who still cannot do the right thing.

What other aspects of health care justice have you been involved in? 

I support bodily autonomy and reproductive and abortion rights, offering media in the last few years to Chicago Abortion Fund, Chicago for Abortion Rights, and Reproductive Transparency Now. I am a strong advocate for mental health care and also support treatment not trauma when it comes to police interventions for wellness checks.

Incumbents

Linda Armitage currently serves as the Board Secretary

Linda Armitage is a three-year member of ISPC and a long-time advocate for single-payer healthcare.

She shares, “Traditional Medicare is vital to me as senior citizen. I would not be as healthy as I am without it. We know how threatening privatization is, and I am committed to do all I can to make sure that Traditional Medicare is improved and preserved while campaigning for Single Payer for all. Birth to death coverage must be won and legally protected as a right, not as a privilege available only to those who can pay for it. Medicare Advantage and all attempts to privatize health care must be stopped now so that future generations do not have to worry and needlessly suffer and die because of inhumane and greedy corporations continuing their policies of delaying and denying what providers and patients require. We have spoken to our own members and to a number of senior community groups and opened seniors' eyes to exactly what Medicare Advantage is beyond the ‘no premium but free gym membership and groceries’ promises. We will continue to educate as many communities, groups and politicians as we can reach. It is vital to build a movement where people of all ages want to be included in the work of ISPC. Single payer will be for everyone and thus in everyone's self-interest to fight for it. And I believe, as does everyone involved in our campaigns, that it is truly a fight, and it will continue be a fight requiring dedication to realizing the only way to have health care for all, single payer ---- Everyone In, Nobody Out!”

Bill Bianchi currently serves as the Board President

Bill Bianchi has been active in the Single Payer movement and ISPC since 2007 and has served on the ISPC board for 6 years. As Board President, he led the launch of ISPC’s Single-payer Resolution campaign, which has 11 Chicago City Council members signed on as well as three organizational indorsements. The Campaign is part of a national campaign led by Public Citizen. The campaign has raised ISPC’s profile in Chicago’s progressive community. It will also be vital to ISPC’s fundraising efforts. Bill lives in Chicago with his wife Judith and two dogs.
Bill shares, “I believe ISPC has and will continue to play an important role in building the grassroots base of support for Medicare for All. I wish to continue as a board member in order to help fulfill the promise of the Resolution campaign, build the base of support, and expand our fundraising capability to the point where ISPC can hire a full-time executive director.”

Abla Gharib is a Rehabilitation Counselor and a member of the Disability Committee

Abla was born in Dearborn, Michigan. She has four sons and a daughter. She lived in Florida for thirteen years, received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida. While living in Florida, she became sick due to toxic shock syndrome that led to amputations. She came to Chicago for rehabilitation and to be near her sons. She got involved with Access Living and got to know many great friends. Through her involvement with Access Living and friends, she learned to become an advocate for people with disabilities. She graduated from Northeastern University with a master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. She’s looking forward to continuing to serve the community, specifically people with disabilities. She’s so glad to be a part of the Illinois Single Payer coalition and be part of the team. Best of all getting to know all these compassionate people.

Ed Hawkins currently serves as the Board Treasurer

Ed Hawkins has been a member of ISPC for approximately 6 years. He is currently self-employed as an income tax practitioner and accountant and has been practicing for 49 years.

Ed shares about his commitment to single-payer and ISPC, “As a self-employed individual, I believe that we as a society need a healthcare system similar to other advanced nations around the world. It is vitally important now that we advocate for universal healthcare in the wake of the current political climate that wants to take away healthcare for the poor, elderly and in general, those who could least afford even a small stay in the hospital.”

Susan Hurley currently serves as the Board Vice President

Susan Hurley is a devoted and accomplished champion of workers rights and economic, social and racial justice. Born and raised in Rockford, IL, Hurley began her organizing career young as an activist in high school and serving as campaign manager for her mother, a teacher who ran for state representative in the 69th district of Illinois in 1998. From there, Hurley was recruited to join the labor movement through the AFL-CIO organizing institute, where she has since returned repeatedly as a teaching fellow. Hurley went on to successful organizing campaigns at SEIU both nationally and locally. This included both traditional NLRA organizing campaigns and corporate campaigns. Hurley worked for SEIU in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Illinois primarily in organizing health care workers.  Her experience as an organizer and as Executive Director at Chicago Jobs with Justice for 13 years, has earned Hurley a wide and deep knowledge of structural issues facing workers in today's economy and what solutions are needed. Hurley is knowledgeable and experienced in employment law and successful pro-worker policy advocacy including recent victories for minimum wage increase, paid sick days and fair scheduling. In particular, Hurley led Chicago Jobs with Justice in partnering deeply with gig workers and rideshare drivers to support organizing and policy advocacy and wrote the language establishing an Excluded Worker Safety Committee in the Rideshare Ordinance in City Council. Hurley is also in relationship with the leaders at virtually every labor and community organization in Chicago working on issues affecting workers. Hurley lives in Chicago in the Rogers Park neighborhood, very close to her sister and nephews. Hurley loves being an aunt. 

Dr. Winnie Lin previously served as president of the ISPC board.

Dr. Winnie Lin was born and raised in the Chicago area. She received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed pediatric residency at the University of Chicago. She is a primary care pediatrician at Mile Square Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center on the South Side of Chicago. She is also an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she teaches pediatric residents and medical students. In addition to serving on the board of ISPC, she is a co-chair of the IL chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Thank you for participating in the election for the 2025 ISPC Board of Directors!

Please vote using the online ballot below. Your vote will be anonymous.

If you have questions about the election process, please reach out to Linda Armitage at lindaarmi@gmail.com.