Jimmy Kimmel started off his show Tuesday night by getting political. Again.
The ABC host attacked Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy for lying to him and urged his audience to push back against Republican lawmakers effort to repeal Obamacare.
A few months ago Kimmel invited Sen. Cassidy on his show shortly after the late-night show host’s son went through open-heart surgery. During Cassidy’s time on the show he said he would only support a health care bill that passes the “Jimmy Kimmel Test,” that “no family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise because they can’t afford it,” Kimmel recalled on Tuesday.
“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,” he added.
Since Cassidy appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” back in May, he proposed a new bill with Senator Lindsey Graham, which Kimmel says “actually does pass the Jimmy Kimmel Test.”
“With this bill, your child with a pre-existing condition will get the care he needs if and only if his father is Jimmy Kimmel,” he explained. “Otherwise, you might be screwed.”
“So, Listen. Healthcare is complicated. It’s boring. I don’t want to talk about it, and the details can be exceptionally confusing. And that’s what these guys are relying on,” Kimmel said. “They’re counting on you to be so overwhelmed by all the information – you just trust them to take care of you. But they’re not taking care of you. They’re taking care of the people who give them money like insurance companies. And we’re all just looking at our phones and liking photos on Instagram – while they’re voting on whether people can afford to keep their children alive or not!”
Kimmel then turned the tables on everyone in congress and called Cassidy a liar once again.
“Most of the Congresspeople who vote on this bill probably won’t even read it. And they want us to do the same thing,” he said. “They want us to treat it like an iTunes service agreement. And this guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied right to my face.”