Jimmy Kimmel is not happy that Sen. Bill Cassidy’s healthcare bill fails the “Jimmy Kimmel” test Cassidy set up for himself and promised to honor. And the thing about Jimmy Kimmel is, he has a late-night talk show, so when someone—say, a Republican senator from Louisiana—lies to him about something that matters deeply to him like healthcare protections for children and families, he can go on TV and talk about it. That’s just what Kimmel did Tuesday night in a monologue directly saying that Cassidy had lied about his healthcare plan.
Kimmel laid it all out:
“He said he would only support a healthcare bill that made sure a child like mine would get the health coverage he needs no matter how much money his parents make and that did not have annual or lifetime caps. [...]
So last week Bill Cassidy and Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed a new bill, the Graham-Cassidy bill, and this new bill actually does pass the Jimmy Kimmel test, but a different Jimmy Kimmel test. With this one, if your child has a pre-existing condition he will get the care he needs, but if and only if his father is Jimmy Kimmel. Otherwise, you might be screwed. Now, I don’t know what happened to Bill Cassidy, but when he was on this publicity tour, he listed his demands for a healthcare bill very clearly. These were his words. He said he wants coverage for all, no discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, lower premiums for middle-class families, and no lifetime caps. And guess what. The new bill does none of those things. [...]
Not only did Bill Cassidy fail the Jimmy Kimmel test, he failed the Bill Cassidy test. He failed his own test. And you don’t see that happen very much. This bill he came up with is actually worse than the one that, thank God, Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and John McCain torpedoed over the summer. And I hope they have the courage and good sense to do that again with this one [...]
Most of the congresspeople who vote on this bill probably won’t even read it, and they want us to do the same thing—they want us to treat it like an iTunes service agreement. And this guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied right to my face.
Kimmel went on to cite all the groups—the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and others—opposing the bill, then closed by calling on his viewers to call their senators and urge them to oppose Graham-Cassidy. Here’s hoping they do that—and that you do, too.
We haven’t won the battle to save health care yet. Republicans are STILL pushing to repeal Obamacare. Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote “NO” on any repeal bill. (After you call, please tell us how it went.)