Jimmy Kimmel suggests Cassidy’s healthcare plan fails senator's own ‘Jimmy Kimmel test’

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel on Monday suggested Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) failed his own “Jimmy Kimmel test,” posting on Twitter a link to a Washington Post op-ed that argues, “on health care, Cassidy flunks his own 'Jimmy Kimmel test.’”

Cassidy established the “Jimmy Kimmel test” in May, after the late-show host delivered an impassioned monologue after his son was born with a heart defect that required massive medical intervention.

“We were brought up to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world, but until a few years ago, millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all,” Kimmel told his audience while describing his son’s condition. “Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you’d never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition. You were born with a pre-existing condition. And if your parents didn’t have medical insurance, you might not live long enough to even get denied because of a pre-existing condition.”

“If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make,” Kimmel added. “I think that’s something that, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right?”

Following that monologue, Cassidy argued any new healthcare plan passed by Congress should “pass the Jimmy Kimmel test.”

"Will a child born with congenital heart disease be able to get everything she or he would need in the first year of life?” Cassidy asked. I want it to pass the Jimmy Kimmel test.”

The op-ed Kimmel linked to insists Cassidy’s plan does not pass the bar.

“The bill doesn’t do what Cassidy himself pledged,” the Post’s Jennifer Rubin wrote. A middle- or working-class family in Kimmel’s spot, depending on where he or she lived, could find that their policy eliminated birth defects from coverage or charged an astronomical amount to cover a baby born with a life-threatening ailment.”

As Rubin notes, an aide for Cassidy declined to say whether the senator’s plan passed his own Jimmy Kimmel test.