‘Exactly Why We Fought So Hard For the ACA’: Obama Praises Jimmy Kimmel’s Monologue on Son’s Surgery

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel opened his show with an emotional monologue about his newborn son, who was born with congenital heart disease and had to have surgery shortly after being born. Kimmel, through tears, described the experience as “terrifying,” but noted that the story has a “happy ending,” saying that he’s now at home, and he’s “eating, he’s sleeping, he peed on his mother today when she was changing his diaper.”

At the end of the monologue, he spoke about President Donald Trump, who, last month proposed a plan that would cut funding to the National Institute of Health by $6 billion. “And thank God our congressmen made a deal last night not to go along with that. They actually increased funding by $2 billion, and I applaud them for doing that,” he said.

Kimmel added, “No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life.”

Today, former President Barack Obama took to Twitter to reach out to Kimmel. “Well said, Jimmy,” he wrote. “That’s exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations!”

Well said, Jimmy. That’s exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations! https://t.co/77F8rZrD3P

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 2, 2017

[featured image via screengrab]

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