Jimmy Kimmel makes emotional plea to ‘vote with your heart’ while sharing update on son

Jimmy Kimmel, host of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” shared a plea to voters on his late-night show on Thursday, asking that viewers consider those with pre-existing conditions when they vote in November’s presidential election.

“There are so many atrocities coming out of this White House every day that it’s easy to become distracted. But I wanna bring us back to focus on something we can’t afford to forget, and that is health care,” Kimmel said.

He added that in his opinion, many Americans want to have health care that provides protection for those who have pre-existing conditions.

“The vast majority of this country agrees that health insurance should cover Americans with pre-existing conditions, but the Republican Party, and that includes the president and members of Congress, the only plan they have is to do away with protections for pre-existing conditions. If they’re allowed to do that, millions of people are going to suffer,” Kimmel said.

“Two-thirds of Republicans want this. But the vast majority of Republicans in office don’t. They say they do, they’ll tell you they do, but their actions say the opposite. So my wife Molly made a video that deals with our experience when it comes to dealing with pre-existing conditions.”

This is a video I made of our son for the millions of vulnerable kids in this country with pre-existing conditions. #VoteThemOut pic.twitter.com/IAja5LFpWQ

— Molly McNearney (@mollymcnearney) October 23, 2020

Kimmel’s son Billy was born with congenital heart defects. After he was born in 2017, Kimmel passionately defended the Affordable Care Act, saying, “Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease, like my son was, there’s a good chance you’d never be able to get health insurance, because you had a pre-existing condition.”

Billy, now 3 years old, had to undergo three heart surgeries and more than 60 doctors appointments in just three years, according to the new video.

The video shows photos and videos of Billy in an incubator and connected to numerous cables and wires.

President Trump also makes an appearance in the video. In a short clip from earlier this year, he’s quoted saying: “We’re going to be doing a health care plan very strongly and protect people with pre-existing conditions.”

The video shared by Kimmel claims “he is lying” in text after the clip. 

“Americans take care of one another. Vote with your heart,” the video concludes.

Trump during the debate Thursday night said that he hopes the Supreme Court will end the Affordable Care Act but maintains that he wants to protect preexisting conditions, a key component of the law.