Jimmy Kimmel says he'd 'like to apologize for saying that children in America should have healthcare'
After an emotional monologue last week in which Kimmel spoke about his newborn son's open heart surgery, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana suggested the GOP healthcare bill pass the "Kimmel test" to make sure families can afford care for their children.
In an interview on Kimmel's show Monday night, the late-night host suggested to Cassidy what the "Kimmel test" should look like.
"Since I am Jimmy Kimmel, I would like to make a suggestion as to what the 'Jimmy Kimmel test' should be. I'll keep it simple," Kimmel said to Cassidy. "No family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they can't afford it. Can that be the Jimmy Kimmel test? As simple as that?"
Cassidy agreed with the concept of the test.
"Hey man, you're on the right track and if that's as close as we can get, that works great in government," Cassidy said. "But what we've got to be able to do is pay for it and that's the challenge."
Cassidy, along with fellow Republican Sen. Susan Collins, introduced a separate healthcare bill that proposes to keep many of the Affordable Care Act's protections in place, including those for people with preexisting conditions and eliminations of lifetime caps on insurance plans.
Kimmel told Cassidy that the best way to pay for the plan is "don't give a huge tax cut to millionaires like me."
"Tell the American people to call their senator to endorse that concept," Cassidy said.
Cassidy also took issue with other parts of the House GOP version of a healthcare bill, the American Health Care Act. The senator pointed to a Congressional Budget Office analysis that showed premiums would increase in the first two years if the bill was passed.
Kimmel, for his part, pushed back at some of the criticism he received following his initial monologue.
"And I'd like to apologize for saying that children in America should have health care," Kimmel said. "It was insensitive - it was offensive - and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."