Jimmy Kimmel Slams New Health Care Bill -- And It's a Message Our Lawmakers Need to Hear

Four months after sharing the news his son was born with a congenital heart defect, Jimmy Kimmel is back talking about health care with a message for lawmakers about the Graham-Cassidy bill, the GOP’s most recent Obamacare repeal effort.

During his monologue in May, Kimmel spoke about his son’s open heart surgery and how the experience opened his eyes to the importance of affordable health care. “If your baby is going to die and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make,” he said. “I think that’s something that whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right?”

Within days of Kimmel’s monologue, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), co-author of the Graham-Cassidy bill, appeared on CNN to discuss the talk show host’s speech, coining the term, the “Jimmy Kimmel test.” The test, according to Cassidy, asks if a child born with congenital heart disease, like Kimmel’s son, would be able to get anything they need within their first year of life.

On Tuesday night, Kimmel slammed Cassidy’s bill saying it fails the Jimmy Kimmel test, and the promises Cassidy made on his “publicity tour,” as well as Kimmel’s show.

If you too are disappointed in Sen @BillCassidy #GrahamCassidy let them know it – call (202) 224-3121 pic.twitter.com/eswlh6BaoV

— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) September 20, 2017

“Not only did Bill Cassidy fail the Jimmy Kimmel test, he failed the Bill Cassidy test,” Kimmel said. “He failed his own test, and you don’t see that happen very much. This bill he came up with is actually worse than, thank God, Republicans like Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and John McCain torpedoed over the summer.”

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Graham-Cassidy bill would take away coverage from 32 million Americans over the next 10 years. It would also end the Medicaid expansion and cut coverage for people with disabilities, seniors and children by 7 percent. The bill also gives states the power to charge people with pre-existing conditions higher premiums, put lifetime caps on care and end the coverage of “essential benefits” such as prescription medication, maternity care and mental health services.

“This is not my area of expertise. My area of expertise is eating pizza — and that’s really about it,” Kimmel added, stating:

We can’t let this happen to our children, our senior citizens, our veterans or any of us — and before you post a nasty Facebook message about me politicizing my son’s health problems — I’ll let you know — I am politicizing my son’s health problems. Because I have to.

My family has health insurance. We don’t have to worry about this, but other people do. So you can shove your disgusting comments where your doctor won’t be giving you a prostate exam because they took your healthcare benefits away.

Kimmel ended his monologue asking viewers not to like his video but to call their representatives and ask they vote “no” on the Graham-Cassidy bill.

“Tell them this bill doesn’t pass your test,” Kimmel said. “We want quality affordable health care. Dozens of other countries have figured it out. So, instead of jamming this horrible bill down our throats, go pitch in and be a part of that… If not, stop using my name, because I don’t want my name on it.”