Key quotes from Jimmy Kimmel on Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the co-sponsor of the Graham-Cassidy bill and the bearer of a promise on national television called the "Jimmy Kimmel test":
"This guy, Bill Cassidy, he just lied right to my face... For lots of people, the bill will result in higher premiums, and as far as lifetime caps go, the states can decide on that, too — which means there will be lifetime caps in many states... Not only did Bill Cassidy fail the Jimmy Kimmel test, but he failed the Bill Cassidy test, too."
More quotes:
- "A few months ago, after my son had open heart surgery ... a senator named Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, was on my show and he wasn't very honest."
- "He got a lot of credit and attention for coming off like a rare, reasonable voice in the Republican Party when it came to health care for coming up with something he called — and I didn't name it this, he named it this — the Jimmy Kimmel test, which was in a nutshell: No family should be denied medical care, emergency of otherwise, because they can't afford it."
- "These insurance companies, they want caps, to limit how much they can pay out. So for instance, if your son has to have three open heart surgeries, it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece. If he hits his lifetime cap of, let's say, a million dollars, the rest of his life, he's on his own."
- "So last week, Bill Cassidy and Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed a new bill, the Graham-Cassidy bill. And this new bill actually does pass the Jimmy Kimmel test, but a different Jimmy Kimmel test.
- "With this one, your child with a preexisting condition will get the care he needs — if, and only if, his father is Jimmy Kimmel. Otherwise, you might be screwed."
- "Sen. Cassidy, you were on my show, you seem like you're a decent guy. But here's the thing: Nobody outside of your buddies in Congress wants this bill."
- "Right now, there's a bipartisan group of senators working to improve the health-care system we have. ... [G]o pitch in and be a part of that ... And if not? Stop using my name."