Jimmy Kimmel presses GOP senator to follow ‘Kimmel test’ on healthcare

by Rebecca Savransky - 06/25/17 4:37 PM ET

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel issued a reminder to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) about the “Kimmel test” on Sunday, a few days after Senate Republicans released a draft of their plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

“Reminder for Sen @BillCassidy: Kimmel test is ‘No family should be denied medical care, emerg or otherwise, because they can’t afford it,'” Kimmel tweeted Sunday.

Reminder for Sen @BillCassidy: Kimmel test is “No family should be denied medical care, emerg or otherwise, because they can’t afford it”

— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) June 25, 2017

Kimmel last month made an impassioned plea for keeping ObamaCare, revealing during a monologue that his newborn son had a heart defect.

Cassidy — following Kimmel’s on-air endorsement of the healthcare law — said any Senate plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare should pass the “Jimmy Kimmel test.”

“I ask, does it pass the Jimmy Kimmel test? Will a child born with congenital heart disease be able to get everything she or he would need in the first year of life? I want it to pass the Jimmy Kimmel test,” Cassidy told CNN when asked if he could support a plan that included yearly or annual insurance caps.

He added at the time that his “simple answer [is:] I want to make sure folks get the care they need.”

Last Thursday, Senate Republicans released a draft of their healthcare proposal.

The Senate’s bill includes deep cuts to Medicaid and fundamentally reshapes that program from an open-ended government commitment to a system of capped federal payments that limit federal spending. The White House says this change is giving more control back to the states.

Cassidy during an interview on Sunday said he is still undecided about how he will vote on the measure.

“Right now, I am undecided,” Cassidy said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”

The Louisiana lawmaker said he could not back the bill unless his concerns about it are addressed.

“But if those can be addressed, I will,” he said.