Hannity superglued to health-care misinformation

On the July 8 edition of his Fox News show, describing what he called "[a]nother story of universal health care gone awry," Sean Hannity stated that "a 55-year-old man in the U.K. ... ran into trouble when he couldn't find a dentist OKed by the government. So he superglued his tooth together for a period of three years." Hannity concluded: "The Democrats have their way, get your superglue ready." However, according to media reports, a woman in the United States has also glued in her teeth because of the costs of dental care. An ABCNews.com article also reported that low-income people are resorting to pulling their own teeth.

As Media Matters for America has documented, Hannity and guests on his Fox News show have repeatedly fear-mongered and misinformed on the issue of heath-care reform.

From the March 12 ABCNews.com article:

It's 2009, not 1909, but more people are willing to do their own health care and dentistry these days.

"It's one of my front teeth, I had just been supergluing it in," said September Williamson of Grand Junction, Colo.

The mortgage is due, the kids have needs, and the dental insurance doesn't cover a ninth of the cost of your dental work. At that point, applying superglue to your crowns didn't seem too unreasonable for Williams.

But, the superglue was just one of a whole set of tooth troubles. Unable to pay for more expensive treatments, Williamson said she's resorted to just pulling out the problem teeth.

"I've had five teeth total pulled, one of them was a wisdom tooth," said Williamson. "A couple of months ago, I was just frustrated with the whole thing -- I'm not the only person out there."

Emergency room physicians, social workers and advocates for the uninsured or underinsured agree.

Although the poor have always employed questionable home treatments, some health care workers have noticed a recent increase in desperate attempts by people to play doctor out of economic desperation.

[...]

"They'll pull rather than try to fix; that's a huge, huge issue," said Joan Whitaker, director of health services at the Action for Boston Community Development Center in Massachusetts.

While dental insurance rarely covers the cost of more expensive treatment, health insurance doesn't always cut it either, Whitaker said.

"Even if people have health insurance right now it doesn't mean that they have money for their co-payments," she said.

Whitaker works with many low income families in the Boston area. She said that recently time, rather than money can be an issue for patients.

"What's happening with a lot of people is they are putting off finding out about problems, because if they're in low paying jobs, and if they take time off they're afraid they won't have a job when they get back," she said. "They're out here working one or two jobs but they are still marginalized, because one thing could happen to them and they can lose it all."

From the July 8 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

HANNITY: Another story of universal health care gone awry. Now, this one from our vault: Now, a couple of years ago, a 55-year-old man in the U.K., he ran into trouble when he couldn't find a dentist OKed by the government. So he superglued his tooth together for a period of three years.

He said, quote, "Well, you can't really taste it, but you do have to be careful not to use it too much in case you glue your mouth shut." The Democrats have their way, get your superglue ready.

Hannity back in 90 short seconds.