Four months ago, late night host Jimmy Kimmel had Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy on his show to discuss health care.
The lawmaker’s appearance came after the U.S. House of Representatives had passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, and before the bill was set to go to the Senate.
Cassidy’s appearance also came after Kimmel opened up about his newborn son Billy, who had heart surgery just three days after his birth.
READ MORE: Jimmy Kimmel chokes up talking about his son’s heart surgery, 3 days after he was born
Kimmel asked Cassidy a pointed question:
“Do you believe that every American, regardless of income, should be able to get regular checkups, maternity care, etc., all of those things that people who have health care get and need?”
“Yep,” Cassidy responded.
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Kimmel was encouraged by Cassidy’s remarks, and by the senator’s commitment to have any new health care legislation pass what he called the “Jimmy Kimmel test.”
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But Kimmel had a very different impression of Cassidy when he spoke about the senator on Tuesday night, in a clip that was posted to YouTube.
WATCH: Jimmy Kimmel slams Senator Bill Cassidy over healthcare
Kimmel spoke about Cassidy this time because he and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are co-sponsoring a bill to repeal Obamacare — Vox’s Matthew Yglesias called it the party’s “final stab” at repealing that legislation.
The bill would do a number of things if passed.
It would remove Obamacare penalties for Americans who don’t have health insurance and on employers who don’t ensure their workers can obtain affordable coverage.
It would do away with government subsidies that lower health care premiums.
And it would allow insurance providers to charge people more based on pre-existing conditions, according to a summary by CNN.
READ MORE: Jimmy Kimmel fires back at people who slagged him for his health care advocacy
According to Kimmel, Cassidy had previously said that he wanted four things out of new health care legislation.
They included “coverage for all, no discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, lower premiums for middle-class families and no lifetime caps.”
And this bill, Kimmel said, does “none of those things.”
“Not only did Bill Cassidy fail the Jimmy Kimmel test, he failed the Bill Cassidy test, and you don’t see that happen very much,” Kimmel said.
The host said that the bill is worse than the repeal-and-replace legislation that the Senate voted down in July, with Republicans John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joining Democrats against it.
He accused Cassidy of “lying right to my face.”
“I never imagined I would get involved in something like this,” Kimmel said.
“This is not my area of expertise, my area of expertise is eating pizza and that’s really about it. But we can’t let them do this to our children, our veterans, our senior citizens or to any of us.”
READ MORE: Jimmy Kimmel’s son helped him end his feud with Jay Leno: ‘Jay and I have made peace’
Kimmel also had harsh words for anyone who accused him of politicizing his son’s condition.
“I want you to know, I am politicizing my son’s health problems, because I have to,” he said.
“So you can shove your disgusting comments where your doctor won’t be giving you a prostate exam once they take your health care benefits away.”
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