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.
What We Believe
HCA believes that everybody deserves access to timely, appropriate health care without fear of financial hardship.
Everyone in our society needs the same comprehensive services regardless of personal circumstances (job, income, health condition, marriage or immigration status).
Universal health care is essential to the security and well-being of our society. It is the role of government to ensure it in a way that is most cost-effective for taxpayers.
Seeing health care as part of the public commons—along with public schools and libraries, fire and police protection, water and air safety, transportation and transit, parks and recreation, and national defense—is vital to our social cohesion and strength as a country.
Our Chapters
Chapter volunteers build support in their communities by tabling at markets, organizing events, speaking to groups, forming coalitions, and securing endorsements for single-payer legislation. Find your local chapter here →
Board of Directors
The HCA board of directors is made up of representatives elected by regional chapters.
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 Area – 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 2024, the officers serving are:
Devra Dallman – Chair
After retiring from a career in risk management for an international firm, Devra co-founded the HCA–Napa chapter in 2016 to educate local residents about the need for universal healthcare. She is active in the statewide coalition for a California single-payer system.
She advocates at the national level to end privatization of Medicare, including through the ACO-REACH program enabled by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation and opposed by the California legislature (AJR-4).
Bart Woolery – Vice-Chair
Bart has been active with the HCA-Santa Barbara chapter since 2006 and with Physicians for a National Health Program.
A mechanical engineer and longtime resident of California, he has experienced personally and through family and friends the flaws and inefficiencies of healthcare in one of the wealthiest places on earth. His conviction that we can do better is supported by the reality of healthcare in other countries where single-payer financing plays a significant role.
Scott Thomason – Treasurer
Scott taught in the Napa public schools after working as an executive search recruiter and directing special events for Pamakid Runners—including the S.F. Marathon.
He has been active with the Sierra Club Redwood chapter, Napa Valley Vine Trail coalition, and American Canyon Community & Parks Foundation board. He has a journalism degree from the University of Tulsa and served two years in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War before moving to California.
Harry Baker – Recording Secretary
Harry’s labor activism began in Utah, organizing a union local as a university gardener and heading the state’s public employee labor council.
As a San Francisco project manager, he served on the SEIU board, earned a law degree, and led the campaign to transition 4,000 workers from temporary to permanent status.
He is on his county’s labor council and works with Lift Up Contra Costa, which trains diverse young people to run for office.
Ellen Karel – Membership Secretary
Ellen joined HCA in 2006 after hearing Mark Leno, state senator and bill author, describe the precariousness of our lives and shared need for ready access to healthcare through a single-payer system.
She teaches community college English as a Second Language classes, reported for a Salinas newspaper, coordinated vocational programs in San Francisco’s Mission District, and lived two years in France where she saw how well publicly financed universal healthcare worked.