Jimmy Kimmel Rebuffs Fox News’ Conspiracy Theories About Health Care Bill
Jimmy Kimmel continued to denounce the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill on Monday, arguing that it does not provide adequate protections for patients with preexisting conditions.
Over the weekend, Fox News contributor Pete Hegseth said Kimmel was a “puppet for the democrats” who only spoke to “one side of the aisle,” referencing Kimmel speaking with Senator Chuck Schumer about Graham-Cassidy. Hegseth said Kimmel was proof that “the deck is stacked against real reform in Washington.”
“It would be easy for me to dismiss this at right wing hysteria,” Kimmel said in response to the Fox and Friends clip. ” I need to come clean … My wife and I were worried about health care … so we decided to have a baby with congenital heart defects. Once we had that going for us, I went on TV, I spoke out, and we may have stopped Graham-Cassidy. I still can’t believe we pulled it off.”
In a more serious tone, Kimmel urged viewers to heed the warnings of numerous healthcare organizations that also criticized Graham-Cassidy. “Every major health organization in the United States is on my side,” said Kimmel. “Every major charity that has to do with health and Medicare was on my side, because the facts were on my side. It has nothing to do with me – it’s just a matter of what’s true and what isn’t true.”
He also praised Republican senators for voicing opposition. He was particularly heartened by Senator John McCain’s announcement on Friday that he would not be voting in favor of Graham-Cassidy. “The truth is, John McCain probably saved the Republican party by doing this,” Kimmel said. “You think Graham-Cassidy is horrible now? Wait until people have to live with it.”
Senator Susan Collins echoed McCain’s words on Monday after senate hearings on the bill, which allowed Kimmel to get in more joke at Graham-Cassidy’s expense: “That means this bill is almost certainly dead,” he said, “or at the very least, on life support. Which won’t be covered.”