Late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel encouraged his viewers for a second night in a row to get health coverage under what he called “Trumpcare” by enrolling on the website created for Obamacare.
“Yesterday I was looking at the White House website, healthcare.gov specifically, and I have to admit the healthcare plan there isn’t bad. It’s actually pretty good,” Kimmel said Wednesday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” before describing how social media users who are typically at odds with his outlook on healthcare are praising him over his support for “Trumpcare.”
His ongoing gag touting the success and support of “Trumpcare” is actually about Obamacare. Kimmel goes on to discuss reports of surging sign-ups on healthcare.gov in its first day of open enrollment and encouraged his viewers to share a video on social media which shows people praising President Trump for his work on healthcare.
Trump doesn’t actually support Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, and is poised to dismantle parts of it via executive order after the Republican push in Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare this year failed. Opponents had been calling that effort “Trumpcare.”
“Together we can make American healthcare great again,” Kimmel said in a play off Trump’s campaign motto.
The preservation of Obamacare has been a particularly sensitive issue to Kimmel, who earlier this year delivered an emotional account of his newborn son’s struggles to get care for a congenital heart condition. Kimmel said he’s lucky to have the money to afford insurance but warned the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare could put other children in jeopardy because it might not keep Obamacare’s guarantee of coverage for those with pre-existing illnesses. This sparked the so-called “Jimmy Kimmel test” for any legislation that would succeed Obamacare, in which coverage is available to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.
