Last May, after his newborn son turned out to have a life-threatening congenital heart defect that required immediate heart surgery, Kimmel spoke eloquently and emotionally of his realization that, while he had insurance that covered the very expensive treatment for his son's "preexisting condition," many others did not. "No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child's life. It just shouldn't happen. Not here," he declared.
In a face-to-face televised interview, back then, GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy declared to Kimmel that he would only support a healthcare bill that covers just such situations, which he dubbed "the Jimmy Kimmel test." And in fact, Cassidy did briefly cosponsor a proposed bill that covered preexisting conditions -- but got nowhere.
Now, however, Cassidy is the named cosponsor of the alarming Graham-Cassidy bill that is being rushed to a floor vote next week to meet the Sept. 30th deadline for a "budget resolution" bill. Among other problems, the bill rather coyly pretends to cover preexisting conditions, but allows states to price them out of the reach of average users. The difference is in the meaning of "access." They're right that people with preexisting conditions have access to health care; but states can jack up the prices as much as they want. As one tv host said: "I have access to the Porche showroom, but that doesn't mean I can afford to buy one of the cars."
Graham-Cassidy also removes the requirement for "essential services," like maternity and mental health, as well as allowing for caps on payments. Not to mention that it also ends the Medicaid expansion and essentially reward states that did not expand Medicaid by allotting them more of the funding than states that did; and, by the way, ends all federal funding after 10 years, leaving health care completely up to the states.
Tuesday night, in response to this new bill, Kimmel, on air, accused Sen. Cassidy of having "proposed a bill that would allow states to do all the things he said he would not let them do. He made a total about-face, which means that he either doesn’t understand his own bill or he lied to me. It’s as simple as that.”
Wednesday morning, Sen. Cassidy told CNN, "I'm sorry that he does not understand [the bill]." In his response Wednesday night, Kimmel did not hold back (as reported by Nick Romano of "Entertainment Weekly."
“Oh, I get it. I don’t understand because I’m a talk-show host, right? Well then, help me out. Which part don’t I understand? Is it the part where you cut $243 billion from federal health-care assistance? Am I not understanding the part where states would be allowed to let insurance companies price you out of coverage for having preexisting conditions? Maybe I don’t understand the part of your bill in which federal funding disappears completely after 2026; or maybe it was the part where the plans are no longer required to pay for essential health benefits, like maternity care or pediatric visits; or the part where the American Medical Association, The American College of Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Hospital Association, The American Cancer Society, The American Diabetes Association, The American Heart Association, Lung Association, Arthritis Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis, ALS, The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and The March of Dimes, among many others, all vehemently oppose your bill.
“Which part of that am I not understanding? Or could it be, Senator Cassidy, that the problem is that I do understand and that you got caught? . . . Is that possible? Because it feels like it is.”
Dylan Scott, writing for Vox.com: "The underlying truth, the beating heart of Obamacare repeal that refuses to let it die, is: Republicans just want to pass a bill, any bill, to say they repealed Obamacare. Whatever standards they've set for their health care plan, whatever promises they made before, don't matter. The policy is, in a very serious sense, beside the point."
And then there is Dean Obeidallah of CNN, who said: "It couldn't be clearer that Cassidy and the GOP are more concerned with fulfilling a campaign promise than ensuring Americans have guaranteed coverage for prexisting conditions. They are playing politics with our health care and the lives of our families by weakening such coverage. And once again we can thank Kimmel -- not Congressional Democratic leaders -- for making this clear to all."
Actually Congressional Democratic leaders are doing everything they can to oppose this bill politically and to arouse public resistance, as are all the organizations that mobilize the very effective protest movements.
But, let's face it, someone with the television audience at his command, like Jimmy Kimmel, who also has such a personal stake, and who is also passionate that all parents have the advantages that he has for his son -- that is a powerhouse to mobilize citizen action.
If this bill gets defeated, as it should, Jimmy Kimmel will deserve a big slice of the credit.
Ralph
PS: As usual, I write -- and then more news comes in the evening tv broadcasts. Chris Hayes interviewed Republican Rep. Tom Reed of New York, a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, who is rather confident that the bill will not pass in the Senate, which is astonishing given that, as most people believe, the Republicans are only one vote short of the 50 they need.
The other bit of news from "All In With Chris Hayes" is about the "real" reason Republicans are doing this: their wealthy donors, who want their Obamacare tax to be repealed. They have said 'the bank is closed for 2018 if they don't repeal it. And this means Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson. So Republicans are afraid that, without all those campaign funds, along with their very poor record of accomplishments on campaign promises, they will lose control of Congress. They see it as a matter of political survival.
Jimmy Kimmel -- again -- nails it: "Listen, health care is complicated. It's boring. I don't want to talk about it. The details are confusing -- and that's what these guys are relying on. They're counting on you to be so overwhelmed with all the information [that] you just trust them to take care of it. Well, they're not taking care of you. They're taking care of the people who give them money."
So what does Rep. Reed know -- that the rest of us don't know -- that makes him confident it won't pass? Is this only a charade to show the donors that they tried everything they could to repeal the Obamacare Tax on the wealthy?
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