Former U.S. President Barack Obama broke his Twitter silence Tuesday to support Jimmy Kimmel’s plea for Obamacare after the talk show host revealed his newborn son had heart surgery.
“Well said, Jimmy. That’s exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations!” Obama tweeted with a link to Kimmel’s Monday night opening monologue.
Obama had not tweeted since March 23.
Kimmel held back tears when he told the Jimmy Kimmel Live audience his son needed heart surgery just three days after he was born.
READ MORE: Jimmy Kimmel chokes up talking about his son’s heart surgery, 3 days after he was born
Kimmel explained a nurse had detected his son had a birth defect called tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia – a hole in the wall separating the right and left sides of the heart and a blocked pulmonary valve.
His son was transferred to another hospital where surgeon spent three hours operating on him.
“He went in with a scalpel and did some kind of magic that I couldn’t even begin to explain,” Kimmel said.
After thanking family, friends and hospital staff for the support for the family and his son’s treatment, Kimmel criticized President Donald Trump proposed $6 billion cut in funding to the National Institutes of Health.
“If your baby is going to die but it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make,” Kimmel said. “I think that’s something, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right? I mean we do.
Kimmel called on politicians to not let “partisan squabbles” divide them on issues such as a child’s access to medical treatment.
“No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life,” he said.
“It just shouldn’t happen, not here.”
Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also shared Kimmel’s monologue on Twitter, thanking the late night talk show host for sharing his story.
“Watch & prepare to tear up. Thanks @jimmykimmel for sharing your story & reminding us what’s at stake w/health care,” Clinton tweeted.
– –Global News reporter Jesse Ferreras contributed to this report.
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