Limbaugh on Uninsured: Let Them Eat ... Applesauce?

Conservative leader mocks Rep. Slaughter's summit comments about constituent who could not afford health insurance

Washington, DC - Today, Media Matters for America issued the following statement in response to Rush Limbaugh mocking Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) for telling -- in his words -- a "sob story" about a constituent who wore her dead sister's dentures because she could not afford health insurance by saying, "So if you don't have any teeth, so what? What's applesauce for? Isn't that why they make applesauce?"

"Rush Limbaugh's comments illustrate a clear lack of compassion for Americans who cannot afford health insurance," said Eric Burns, President of Media Matters for America. "Health care reform is not a laughing matter for those that attended today's summit nor is it for the millions of people in this country that are uninsured and underinsured. With the one of the leading conservative voices prescribing applesauce as a substitute for insurance, it is no small wonder health care reform legislation remains stalled."

BACKGROUND

At today's bipartisan health care summit, Slaughter said:

SLAUGHTER: Think about what's absolutely important here. Not nitpick but think about all of the people out there every single day, the number of people with excess deaths because they have no health insurance. I even have one constituent -- you will not believe this, and I know you won't, but it's true -- her sister died. This poor woman had no denture. She wore her dead sister's teeth, which of course were uncomfortable and did not fit. Do you ever believe that in America that that's where we would be?

Limbaugh responded to what he called the "sob story of the day" by stating:

LIMBAUGH: You know I'm getting so many people -- this Louise Slaughter comment on the dentures? I'm getting so many people -- this is big. I mean, that gets a one-time mention for a laugh, but there are people out there that think this is huge because it's so stupid. I mean, for example, well, what's wrong with using a dead person's teeth? Aren't the Democrats big into recycling? Save the planet? And so what? So if you don't have any teeth, so what? What's applesauce for? Isn't that why they make applesauce?

Limbaugh previously told a caller who could not afford the $6,000 it would cost to treat a broken wrist that he "shouldn't have broken [his] wrist."

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Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. For more information, visit www.mediamatters.org.