On the recordSeptember 19, 2017
Mr. President, in May, Jimmy Kimmel shared the story of his newborn son Billy, who was born with a life-threatening condition that required open-heart surgery. Kimmel said that he was fortunate to have had good health coverage and was able to pay for the care that his son needed, something he believed every American deserved. A few weeks later, as efforts to repeal ObamaCare were gaining steam, Senator Bill Cassidy explained that the bar he believed any healthcare bill had to clear to get his vote was what he called the Jimmy Kimmel test. He said: ``Will a child born with congenital heart disease be able to get everything she or he would need in the first year of life?'' When Kimmel interviewed Senator Cassidy a few days later, Kimmel explained the test this way: ``No family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they can't afford it.'' Well, I am here to report that this latest version of TrumpCare, offered by none other than Senator Cassidy himself, fails the Jimmy Kimmel test miserably. Over the past few weeks, there have been two ongoing conversations about the future of healthcare in the United States. The first has been conducted in an open, bipartisan manner in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in full accord with the traditions of this body.…





