“Let Obamacare fail.”
These demanding words came from President Trump as he declared his plan to work on a new bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. In January, the Congressional Budget Office said the proposed House bill would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 18 million in the first year alone, and that number would continue to increase. The Obamacare expansion of Medicaid would be gone.
And Tuesday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote on the motion to proceed with a Senate bill, meaning that 50 GOP senators voted to repeal/replace Obamacare without having any idea of what will replace it.
Approximately three months ago, beloved TV show host Jimmy Kimmel shared an emotional and moving monologue on this show regarding the open-heart surgery of his newborn son. Kimmel emphasized the relevance of providing all Americans with health care.
His young son Billy was born with pre-existing conditions, and Kimmel made it apparent that everyone deserves the opportunity to get medical attention that could potentially change their life. “If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make. I think that’s something, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on.
“Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you’d never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition.”
Just last week, Kimmel tweeted a picture of an adorable and smiling Billy. “Billy is 3 months old & doing great. Thx for the love & support. Please remind your congresspeople that every kid deserves the care he got.” It didn’t take long for Kimmel’s tweet to show up on almost everyone’s Twitter feed. As soon as Twitter sent me a notification, I saw the picture of little Billy Kimmel and immediately my heart melted, as I assume thousands of others’ hearts did, too.
It’s easy to feel that we had no impact in the process to repeal Obamacare, but for the life of everyone in America who relies on health care, this should not stop us from spreading the word about why health care for all is important. As the Senate begins to debate and formulate a replacement health-care bill, it is our duty to make sure our voices are heard and taken into consideration.
Health care changes people’s lives, especially in extreme circumstances. Little baby Billy shows us the effect that health care has on us in America. Kimmel’s monologue went viral, allowing more Americans to become aware of the health-care reform problems that we will likely soon encounter.