Huge news this morning. The federal government has announced the final phase of the NDP Canada Dental Care Plan, which my NDP colleagues and I fought so hard for. As of May, the plan will cover ALL Canadians who don’t have insurance and whose household income after taxes is less than $90,000.
I stand corrected.
We received a bill for my husband's trip to the French public hospital ER.
That was early February, 6 hours there.
1 lab test.
1 electrocardiogram
1 brain scan
Total: 297.74 euros ($322.42).
I've put the detail in the alt-text.
That's the bill with NO insurance.
I'm pretty, pretty, pretty sure it's still way below what people would pay in the US.
@benroyce@mastodon.social"Bad thing in another country horrifies, driving support for the opposite at home"
I think it helped in #Germany
I think it will help in #Canada
So the fate of the #USA is to be an example of what poor #gunControl, no #universalHealthcare, and what an unchecked #plutocrat-#bigot #political axis does to a motherfucker:
Sane observant #citizens in other #democracies can avoid our fate
"Anti-#Trump sentiment drives dramatic upturn in fortunes for Canada’s #Liberals"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/26/canada-liberal-party-poll
If Republicans are really going to defund Medicaid and the ACA subsidies, then California may as well pass CalCare. #UniversalHealthCare
New server, new #Introduction
Greetings! I am a resident of the Pacific Northwest, USA. Currently surviving the mess in the US as best I can, so I occasionally drop an F-bomb. Sorry, not sorry.
Tamsin's pinned post on anarres.family, my new home instance.
Hello, anarres.family, all other servers, and all ships at sea!
Welcome to Tamsin's Pinned Post, which includes a few things you might want to know about me.
Yes, this is a new instance, which I intend to be my new home on the fediverse... but it's the same old nonsense.
Please enjoy your stay, unless you're a fascist, a racist, a transphobe, a homophobe, or any other flavor of garbage person, in which case please fix your heart or die. Your choice.
So, who the heck am I?
Hi! I'm Tamsin: a white #GenX #queer #sapphic #nonbinary #trans #woman who likes doorstopper novels, director's cuts of movies, extended remixes of songs and albums, tabletop roleplaying games, 5-string basses, double-cutaway Les Paul Jr. guitars, beaches, forests, mountains, witchy things, late nights, lazy afternoons, writing down half of everything she thinks, and living places that haven't outlawed her.
I'm happily monogamously married to a polymath superhero, and we share our lives with my marvelous teenaged offspring, two adorable cats, and a host of delightful friends and co-conspirators.
Things I post about, in no particular order: #gender, #sexuality, #queerness, #QueerTheory, #transgender stuff, #transfeminine stuff, #magic, #witchcraft, #music, #books, #movies, #TTRPGs, #ADHD, #politics, #philosophy, #spirituality, making things, and whatever else is going though my brain at any given moment.
When I talk about gender and sexuality, it's probably helpful to know that I hold a bachelor's degree in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies (with a focus on #feminist history, queer theory, and trans studies) from the University of Washington. This doesn't make me "right" or "authoritative," but it does mean I've done some reading on the topics. Sometimes I joke that I had to get a degree to realize I'm a gay trans girl... which isn't quite true, but still makes me laugh.
I'm exactly the kind of person who likes #ProgRock, #PunkRock, #PostPunk, #TripHop, #GirlyPop, #DarkFolk, #BlackMetal, '70s #funk, old-school #RnB, #BritishInvasion, #ArtRock, #AcidRock, #AcidFolk, anti-fascist #NeoFolk, #SingerSongwriter, #blues, #EarlyMusic, #minimalist composers, anime soundtracks, and everything #Prince ever recorded. Among other things.
Sometimes I make things. I craft, I cook, I play (and occasionally run) tabletop role-playing games, I play (and occasionally write) music and songs. Most of all, though, I write: essays, poetry, stories, and—this one time at band camp, when I was feeling particularly sassy—a whole-ass book about gender, sexuality, queerness, and magic for witches, Pagans, occultists, and devotional polytheists. (If you want to check it out, there's a link in my bio to the publisher's page.)
Politically, I started out as a liberal in the 1980s, but—flying in the face of conventional wisdom—became increasingly leftist as time went by. I believe all life is sacred, hegemony and hierarchy are intrinsically inclined towards abuse, and bodily autonomy is fundamental to human rights. I believe people can own and control things, but that people are not things. As such, I believe fascism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia, and ableism are all evils of the human heart. I support #UniversalHealthcare, #UBI, BLM, #antifa, indigenous rights, #TransRights, queer resistance, sex workers, undocumented and migrant rights, disability rights, autistic people, plural folks, defunding the police, and radical inclusivity. Whatever name fits those beliefs, that's what I am. I'm not a wholly uncritical leftist, though, and I'm probably not ideologically pure enough for most movements. (Then again, I'm a futch-y trans #lesbian, so many leftist movements don't want me around anyway.)
About following and followbacks:
I'm trying to be intentional and judicious in how I use social media, so here's the deal: folks are welcome to follow my account here, but I don't automatically follow people back. That's not a judgement on you, please understand. It's an acknowledgement that I have a limited amount of mental and social bandwidth, and it's easy for me to get overwhelmed by my social media feed if I don't tend it aggressively.
The odds of me following you back are significantly higher if...
• you have a bio I find interesting,
• you're somewhere under the rainbow (LGBTQIA2S+),
• we share interests in common,
AND/OR
• you interact with my posts in a positive way often enough that I think, "hey, I like so-and-so, I think I'll send them a follow request."
The last condition might override any of the previous three, but the previous three do sway things, just saying. Regardless, anyone's welcome to follow my posts here.
About alts:
I have several other accounts around the fediverse, but I'm designating this one as my main account, my home instance, my primary incarnation on fedi. My other active alts as of 25.01.25 are:
• @TamsinSays@transfeminine.art: This is my secondary account, and may wind up being a writing-specific alt.
• @TimTams_After_Dark: This is my "spicy alt," which just means I talk about sex a little more freely and often. It's set to follower-only visibility.
Okay, I think that's about enough for now. Further updates as events warrant, or as I think of them.
Cheers! 
"WE Failed to Stop #Fascism. What Next?"
From #RobertEvans / #ShatterZone
The #SocialDemocrats dream of a giant, continent-sized #Denmark, with #cyclists replacing #Ford Trucks, #universalhealthcare, good schools and a bevy of other lovely things both political parties will fight tooth and nail to prevent.
The authoritarian #Communists dream of a new #OctoberRevolution, but this one will work rather than just creating a new dictatorship that ages and dies within the space of a single human lifetime.
#Anarchists tend to be very good at seeing the flaws in the logic and futility of the hopes of the previous two groups, but they are just as bereft of ideas for how to stop what’s coming.
The majority of #Americans want #UniversalHealthcare.
When a representative government fails to give, or even consider, what the majority wants, it's not doing its job, by definition, and must be replaced with one that bows to the will of the majority.
They are not our #rulers. They are our employees.
@dbattistella@mstdn.caEvery Western neocon wants to destroy the social services that make life possible and bearable.
Treating people with #dignity and #respect? Allowing people access to housing, healthcare and education.
You know, it’s just that crazy it might just work!
#auspol #BreakTheDuopoly #UniversalIncome #Disabled #UniversalHealthcare
There's so much rant about the unemployment benefits and universal income. People claim it's some kind of weird shit that shouldn't exist, because people won't #work anymore.
You know why people won't work anymore? Because they are tired barely scraping by, slaving their asses off on a 40 hour job and the best they can afford is rent and MAYBE just MAYBE healthcare.
Imagine the dystopia: working class people are going to see their co-workers much more than their own children.
I have been #unemployed since June this year and my work schedule has extended to 7 days a week instead. At least now I can manage to do chores and cook HEALTHY meals for myself and wife, I have started a YouTube channel, I am teaching guitar at a local music school AND doing freelance work on the side.
Please tell me again how people are going to stop working.
Everything that universal income is going to do is that employers will need to stop exploiting people for fuck's sake, in order to make their jobs attractive again.
And some billionaires are probably lose some billions, boohoo, what a tragedy.
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-often-do-health-insurers-deny-patients-claims
How Often Do Health Insurers Say No to Patients? No One Knows.
Insurers’ denial rates — a critical measure of how reliably they pay for customers’ care — remain mostly secret to the public. Federal and state regulators have done little to change that.
#Healthcare #HealthInsurance #UnitedHealthcare #CEO #FreeLuigi #FreeLuigiMangione #SinglePayer #UniversalHealthcare #USHealthcare #GuillotinesWork #Regulation
@danwentzel@urbanists.socialCalifornia Democrats have a state legislature supermajority. If Governor Newsom wants to launch his 2028 campaign by bringing #universalhealthcare to California, now would be the time.
@FrozenPeach@beige.partyWe won't tell you how much anything is in our for profit system. You will have NO idea how much any procedure or surgery will be. We'll offer you tylenol in the hospital but won't tell you it's $15. Because of the Sacklers people can't get real pain medication anymore. Of course you have to do a course of physical therapy with a slipped disc. That will fix it. You can only talk about 2 things when you get an appt with your GP, who is NOT a doctor. Make another appt.
25% of hospitals and healthcare networks are #Catholic run. Many people don't have a choice if they want to stay in network.
We pay more than any other country to get shitty healthcare, be in more pain, be disabled earlier, die younger, and have our rights taken.
#UHC
#BCBS
#DeathPanels #AIDeathPanels
#CEOs automate your denials, suffering, disability, and death.
It's all a con.
We want #UniversalHealthcare like civilized countries.
@danwentzel@urbanists.socialQasim Rashid's article debunking every right-wing talking point about #universalhealthcare is fantastic.
https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/debunking-every-myth-you-hear-against
Universal healthcare. But also lower poverty rates, paid family leave, paid vacation (sometimes up to 4 weeks/year), and numerous other safety net services that not only directly improve the quality of life, but also reduce chronic stress and the overproduction of the stress hormone, Cortisol, which, when chronically overproduced can indirectly lower life expectancy by increasing the risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
Seen in Koch Brothers' country
https://www.reddit.com/r/wichita/comments/1hb4anp/bridge_no/
