About Us

Our Mission

Health Care for All – California (HCA) is dedicated to achieving a universal healthcare system through single-payer public financing. Our goal is for all California residents to have guaranteed, high quality, comprehensive health care.

Who We Are

HCA is a statewide non-partisan, non-profit organization of volunteers. The HCA board of directors is made up of elected representatives from regional chapters. We are supported by donations and fundraising activities. We encourage all single-payer supporters to become HCA members by donating and welcome creation of new chapters in under-represented areas of California.

Board of Directors

The HCA board of directors is made up of representatives elected by regional chapters. Board committees provide organizational support in the areas of legislative analysis and recommended action, development of educational materials and social media, coalition building, membership outreach, and budget and financing.

Directors by Chapter:

Alameda County – Dan Hodges
Contra Costa County – Harry Baker and Jonee Grassi
Humboldt County – Winchell Dillenbeck and Ross Ward
Marin County – Ellen Karel and Sandy Neumann
Napa County – Devra Dallman
Nevada County – Leah Schwinn
North State Medicare 4 All – Forest Harlan
Sacramento Valley – Chuck Adelman
San Fernando Valley – Dessa Kaye
Santa Barbara County – Bart Woolery
Yolo County – Millie Braunstein and Maggie Fry

Officers

Officers are elected by the board. As of January 2023, the officers serving are:

Devra Dallman

Devra Dallman

Chair

Devra is an activist for health care at the state and national level. Devra joined the single payer movement in 2016, supporting formation of the HCA – Napa County Chapter in an effort to educate county residents about the importance of providing universal single payer healthcare.

During the past several years, HCA – Napa County has partnered with Physicians for National Heath Program (PNHP) in Napa and Sonoma County, which Devra joined in 2022.

The recent attempts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to privatize Medicare, through the ACO-REACH pilot program have presented additional challenges and opportunities to educate and reach out to inform the public as well as our elected officials. We must also do everything in our power to stop the privatization of Medicare.

Bart Woolery

Bart Woolery

Vice-Chair

Bart has been active in the single payer movement since 2006, mostly with the state-wide organization and his local HCA-Santa Barbara chapter, as well as with the national organization Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP).

A mechanical engineer by profession and a resident of California for many decades, Bart has experienced the many flaws and inefficiencies of the healthcare system of one of the most wealthy places on earth, both personally and through families and friends. He is convinced that we can do better, and his convictions are supported by the reality of healthcare in many other countries where single payer financing plays a significant role.

Yi Shepard

Yi Shepard

Treasurer

Yi supports HCA’s mission of empowering the public with knowledge and advocacy to ensure every person’s right to healthcare.

She believes that healthcare reform is not a political movement; it is a human rights movement. The probability of needing medical care is equal and guaranteed for all of us by nature, and yet the probability of receiving medical care is unequal and not guaranteed under the current system in this richest country in human history.

Yi has professional training and background in providing tax services to businesses, which allows her to see how our current healthcare system violates the basic economic principles that underlie any efficient market.

 

Harry Baker

Harry Baker

Recording Secretary

Harry believes single payer can only become a reality in California by gaining broad labor support. His activism in the labor movement spans 50 years.

In 1972 Harry worked as a gardener to organize what became AFSCME Local 585 at the University of Utah. He served as executive director of the Utah State AFSCME Council, representing seven local unions. In San Francisco, he was a project manager in the Mayor’s Office of Community Development and on the SEIU executive board.

After earning a law degree from USF, he led a successful campaign to transition 4,000 temporary employees to permanent status with job security, health insurance, and pension rights. He represents 1021 at the Contra Costa Labor Council and is co-chair of COPE, the union’s political arm. He represents 1021 in Lift Up Contra Costa, a coalition that trains progressive young people, primarily of color, to run for office and supports them once elected.

Ellen Karel

Ellen Karel

Membership Secretary

Ellen joined the single payer movement in 2006 following a moving HCA-Marin event that drove home the need for guaranteed health care and our potential to provide it.

Ellen’s activism is informed by such life experiences as teaching English to adult immigrants in San Francisco Bay area community colleges; reporting for the Salinas Californian newspaper; coordinating vocational programs in San Francisco’s Latinx community; and living for two years in France.

To meet our basic needs and honor our values as a caring, thriving society, Ellen believes we cannot continue to allow a profit-first healthcare industry to guide public policy. It has hurt millions of people, wasted billions of dollars, and weakened our economy. Because health care is one right among many that must be shared equally for us to live in a peaceful, sustainable world, she believes the drive for universal health care is an integral part of the larger movement for racial, social, economic, and climate justice.

What We Believe

HCA believes that everybody (all ages and ethnicities) deserves to be free from the fear of having to go without needed care or suffer deprivation in order to pay high medical bills.

Everyone deserves health care regardless of income level, health condition, employment circumstances, immigration status, or marital status.

Restricting the availability of adequate health insurance to those who have it through an employer, those who can purchase it on the private market, or those who have it through a government-subsidized program is unjust.

We believe that universal health care needs to be guaranteed by and for society, similar to police and fire protection, education, and defense.

What We Do

Every day, Health Care for All – California: promotes the idea that health care is an essential need. We educate the public about the benefits of a single-payer system and advocate for passage of single-payer legislation that will cover the financing of health care for all residents of California.

In chapters throughout the state, we undertake a range of public education and advocacy work. HCA members organize lectures, panels, and film screenings. We table at markets, leaflet at fairs, support house parties, and speak to local organizations such as service clubs and faith-based groups. Members meet with locally elected representatives including state legislators, members of city councils, school boards, and county boards of supervisors.