OPINION: I’ll trust Jimmy Kimmel on health care over the GOP any day

Sept. 22--Because we live in a time of great stupidity, America finds itself embroiled in a fierce debate over whether a comedian and late-night television host should have an opinion on health care legislation.

Jimmy Kimmel spoke out this week against an Obamacare repeal bill that Republican lawmakers are trying to push through Congress. This version -- I believe it's the 456th one -- was drafted by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy. It's known as the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, though it would be more accurate to call it the Oh-My-God-Everybody-Hates-This health care bill.

Much like previous GOP attempts at Obamacare repeal, this one would strip away many of the patient protections the Affordable Care Act put in place and, because of substantial drops in federal funding, invariably lead to millions of Americans losing their health care.

The bill's popularity at the moment ranks somewhere between "finding a rat in the pantry" and "seeing Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy naked." It has been denounced by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, AARP, the American Heart Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Alzheimer's Association and Alzheimer's Impact Movement, and the American Cancer Society.

Even insurance industry trade groups are speaking out against the bill, with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association releasing a statement that said: "The legislation reduces funding for many states significantly and would increase uncertainty in the marketplace, making coverage more expensive and jeopardizing Americans' choice of health plans."

Republicans spent years treating Obamacare like a plague across the land. So the bar for improving American health care should be so low it could trip a snail.

But again, as with previous GOP bills that haven't made it through a Republican-controlled Congress, the Graham-Cassidy bill finds ways to make things worse, unless:

1) You're a Republican politician trying to please wealthy donors.

2) You're a wealthy donor.

3) You don't like poor people. (This one can also apply to items 1 and 2.)

Even the people who might see reductions in premiums would get there only because the coverage would be less comprehensive or have higher deductibles.

So, the medical and insurance experts and this newspaper columnist agree, Graham-Cassidy is a poop sandwich.

But what about Jimmy Kimmel?

His infant son was born with a heart condition that required immediate surgery, giving the host of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" a crash course in the American health care system. He recognizes his own wealth makes his son's care possible, but the staggering costs led him to advocate for other parents.

He took a stand against the Graham-Cassidy bill in part because it doesn't guarantee preexisting condition protections enshrined in Obamacare. The bill would allow states to apply for waivers that could let insurers raise premiums for people with preexisting conditions.

And if you think each state governor will make the right decisions for his or her people, recall that many states declined the Medicaid expansion offered under Obamacare, turning down federal money that would've helped lower-income residents.

Republican politicians and conservative pundits reacted to Kimmel's comments with considerable indignation, effectively saying a comedian shouldn't be commenting on health legislation.

But Kimmel wasn't speaking as a comedian. He was speaking as someone who has become intimately familiar with a health crisis that would bankrupt many if the Graham-Cassidy bill becomes law.

That makes him someone we should absolutely be listening to as this legislation is considered. In fact, I think we all would benefit greatly by hearing from these experts-by-circumstance.

We should listen to Kimmel. And we should listen to Laura Packard, a woman with stage 4 cancer who was blocked on Twitter by President Donald Trump this week after she tweeted: "Obamacare is literally keeping me alive & can get me cured. If it survives. #SavetheACA."

We should listen to breast cancer survivors and people with disabilities and people who have lost loved ones to preventable diseases. And we should listen to people who have been hurt by Obamacare as well.

It doesn't matter what any of these people do for a living. I'd trust a comedian who has been knee-deep in medical bills more than I'd trust a politician.

Because the politicians aren't the experts. The experts are the doctors and medical and insurance groups telling you the Graham-Cassidy bill is a hot mess. The experts are people like Kimmel and Packard, people living through health crises and warning you that things will get worse.

The ones blocking Packard or telling Kimmel to stick to comedy are the ones you shouldn't trust. They have their own interests at heart.

And the interests of some wealthy donors who don't have to worry about health care or, apparently, anyone else.

rhuppke@chicagotribune.com

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