Mercedes Pena is the Legal Services Director for the Center for Health Care Rights. A registered Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) counselor and community educator, she provides Medicare and Medi-Cal advocacy and counseling, representation in Medicare appeals, Medicare secondary payer cases and other matters causing access-to-care issues, gives community education trainings on related topics, supervises other HICAP counselors, and participates in the training of new counselors.

Mercedes previously worked in direct legal services at Community Legal Aid of Compton. For ten years, she represented victims of domestic violence in restraining order hearings, custody hearings, and paternity and divorce trials, in addition to providing representation in eviction and guardianships proceedings. She supervised the work of paralegals and law students, the hotline, the domestic violence clinic and self-help center in the Compton Courthouse.

Mercedes earned her J.D. at Whittier College School of Law and her B.A. in Political Science and Spanish Literature, with a minor in English Literature, from Whittier College. She is a member of the California State Bar.