Meet the far-left group pushing socialized medicine across WNC
Editor’s Note: This is first in a series of investigative articles that highlight far-left groups that the North Carolina media misleadingly present as benevolent nonprofits. This is a classic tactic by legacy media outlets to skew the news toward the left.
Meet Reclaim Healthcare WNC
Since its launch back in 2023, this group has received gobs of attention from local media outlets, without any context about their far-left agenda.
This group was started in 2023, five years after the sale of Mission Hospital to HCA, to replace “a nonprofit hospital system.” While it may be formed as a nonprofit, it functions like a political action committee with a designed to communicate with the public. The group solicits complaints about alleged accidents at Mission Hospital and then passes them off.
Given the political connections of the group, the complaints are likely thoroughly investigated.
Back in late 2023, Mission Hospital was placed in immediate jeopardy over serious safety concerns. The federal investigators conducted a two-week investigation and determined that all of the safety concerns were resolved.
Just this year, state investigators looked into the complaints and found that there were no ongoing issues at Mission Health. Only for the vast majority of them to be dismissed as baseless.
In addition to their focus on flooding regulators with complaints that multiple investigations confirm as unsubstantiated, members of Reclaim Health WNC also engage in the far-left practice of stakeholder activism. Back in 2023, State Senator Julie Mayfield and Allen Lalor purchased a number of shares of HCA stock in order to propose activist resolutions. This is a tactic used primarily by climate activists, where they offer misleading resolutions that harm the company and other shareholders.
In 2024, Exxon Mobil filed a landmark lawsuit against climate activists, who eventually had to promise to never again file resolutions limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The complaint argued that shareholder activists are actively trying to harm the company and other shareholders through dubious parliamentary tactics. This is the same playbook the Reclaim Healthcare WNC activists want to use against their fellow shareholders.
Lalor previously worked as an ER doctor at Mission, who left shortly after HCA purchase. One redditor confirmed that he served as a conduit for complaints. He eventually filed complaints in 2022 under the False Claims Act. The United States Government declined to engage with the complaint, a sign that at least the Government did not find his report credible.
Backers: The need for Reclaim to push provocative stories and deploy a corporate activist playbook becomes clear from a brief look at the organization’s partners. These groups are likely to provide substantial financial support, but Reclaim is a dark money group, which means it’s not required to disclose its donors. This is a common structure used by liberal organizations to disguise the source of their funding.
On its website, Reclaim lists: Health Equity Coalition of WNC, Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods, Thrive Asheville, and Healthcare for All WNC. One example of how radical these groups are is Healthcare for All WNC who proudly proclaims their support for single payer healthcare and the radical National Nurses Union.
Another key supporter is George Soros-linked Asheville Watchdog, whose reporting is featured on Reclaim Healthcare WNC’s website. From all appearances, it looks like the left-leaning donors who support Reclaim Healthcare WNC are pleased with the progressive Asheville Watchdog’s reporting to advance socialize medicine in North Carolina.
Meet the team!
Julie Mayfield is the ringleader for Reclaim Healthcare WNC.
She’s an attorney by training, but currently, she has been an operator in the left-leaning nonprofit space. Before focusing on Reclaim, Mayfield ran MountainTrue from 2008 until 2022, a climate focused nonprofit engaged in advocating for environmental issues. Additionally, her organization received over $400,000 from the Paycheck Protection program, and both loans and interest were forgiven. Other political consultants received intense criticism for receiving PPP loans, since the rules for the loans prohibit political groups from participating in the government program.
Mayfield is a Democrat super donor. Campaign finance data shows she donated over $7,733 on the federal and $24,029 on the state level, mostly to Democrat candidates and official party organizations.
In addition to her role as lead voice for Reclaim, Mayfield has been a state senator since 2020. During her time in the N.C. Senate, Mayfield has racked up one of the most liberal voting records: supporting higher taxes, radical gender ideology, soft-on-crime policies, and a litany of other liberal priorities.
Before Mayfield was elected to the State Senate, she was on the Asheville City Council. From there she advocated for higher taxes, universal healthcare, and defund the police initiatives.
Mark Hall is the chief “expert” cited by Reclaim. He’s a professor at Wake Forest University and writes about healthcare outcomes in America.
As a professor, Hall received a poor 1.5 rating from students, including one who said, “avoid this guy like the plague. He’s petty, arrogant, and unapproachable. Also fails to disclose the actual amount of work expected for the class until well after add/drop is over.
As a researcher, Hall is deeply connected to left-wing dark money groups that support broader progressive agenda, and his work aligns with his financial backers.
Hall’s foundational funding began with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), which awarded him over $2 million to study healthcare access, insurance regulation, and safety-net programs. RWJF openly embraces goals like universal coverage, equity focused public health, and reproductive justice, and Hall’s work frequently aligned with these priorities. RWJF also partnered with The Tides Foundation, a George Soros–linked progressive funder, to advance systemic equity agendas through its Convergence partnership.
Hall received nearly $1 million grant from the Commonwealth Fund, a group that claims credit for laying the groundwork Obamacare and routinely pushes for more government intervention in the healthcare system.
Hall’s role as a nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution further entrenched his policy influence in the progressive ecosystem.
Brookings has promoted DEI principles, racial justice narratives, and opposition to immigration enforcement, and Hall’s contributions reflect that same ideological lens.
Hall has received substantial funding from Arnold Ventures, a politically aggressive philanthropic outfit founded by hedge fund billionaire John Arnold, dubbed the “next George Soros”. Between 2018 and 2024, Hall received at least$135,000 from Arnold Ventures (including through Brookings) for projects related to hospital consolidation and insurance regulation.
Bottom Line: Hall is deeply connected to the progressive left who provide substantial amounts of grant funding to support “scholarly” work that fits their ideological perspective.
Allen Lalor is a former Emergency Room Doctor who is on the Board of Reclaim Healthcare WNC, who leads efforts to undermine the hospital.
Lalor has been a fierce critic of HCA since his retirement leading the charge against his former employer. He engaged in corporate stakeholder activism and filed a false claims complaint against HCA. The government reviewed his complaint and declined to intervene, a sign that they found it less than credible. The litigation is still pending.
A social media poster claimed that Lalor was acting as a conduit for complains about Mission Health.
Bottom Line: Legacy media outlets present this group as some sort of charity, but in reality its a left-wing dark money group with an agenda. This group should face more scrutiny before outlets simply republish their talking points.
