A comedian’s purpose is to make its audience cry of laughter, not of sadness. Contrary to that, late night talk show host, comedian, father, and host Jimmy Kimmel poured his heart out on stage and shed some tears as he begged and pleaded for a call to action for children’s healthcare coverage.
Kimmel said, “No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life. It just shouldn’t happen. Not here.”
Prior to this poignant and grim moment, Kimmel told the world about his son, William (Billy) Kimmel, born April 21, 2017. He explained how everything appeared fine at first in the hospital after childbirth before a very attentive doctor by the name of Evan Zohn announced a life-threatening heart condition attacking baby Kimmel that required immediate treatment.
Calmly explaining to the audience that his emotional story had a happy ending, he brought a picture to the screen showing a smiley Billy in his first picture ever. The surgery, he said while full of joy, was a success.
“It was the longest three hours of my life,” he stated, sorrowfully.
Although Billy looked happy, Kimmel told the audience that he will need more surgery in his teens and for the rest of his life.
After explaining his son’s condition, Kimmel continued on to the subject of healthcare. For those who may not know, President Donald Trump and other Republicans recently devised a new healthcare plan that, according to The Balance, would make insurance companies charge a higher rate rate for those with pre-existing conditions as they would for healthy people. If put into action, chronic disease sufferers, like Billy, would have to cause his family to pay much higher rates.
Junior Jasmin Shah said, “The amount of money your family makes should not be the indicator of the health insurance you receive. America needs to fix this.”
Kimmel went on to speak about former President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan and how the ACA mandated coverage for pre-existing conditions.
“Before the ACA, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you would never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition.” He added, “[If] you were born with a pre-existing condition and if your parents didn’t have medical insurance, you might not even live long enough to get denied because of a pre-existing condition.”
Kimmel then ended his speech by directing it to the members of Congress who are looking to repeal the ACA and replace it with the President’s plan: “If your baby is going to die and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make.”
Pitifully, he added, “I think that’s something that whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right? … Don’t let partisan squabbles divide us on something every decent person wants.”
Freshman Molly Maston said, “The United States needs to become united again. This argument has a right answer, and a wrong answer and I’m not sure why it’s taking so long to figure out the right answer.”
Kimmel encourages all Americans, despite their political party to join him in saving more children across the country, like his son was saved.
How would you help this cause if you had the chance?