National Review asks why Jimmy Kimmel won't 'leave policy talk to health-care experts,' gets an earful

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last updated 22 September 2017

Weirdly, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel is now a big part of America's health-care debate. His critiques of the Graham-Cassidy health-care bill — after one of its sponsors, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), promised to oppose any bill that failed his "Jimmy Kimmel Test," which Graham-Cassidy appears to do — have hit a nerve perhaps because Kimmel is a goof and probably the least political of the late-night TV hosts. So on Wednesday, Theodore Kupfer at National Review published an article critical of Kimmel's audacity to weigh in on health care, as if he had "deep and hidden reservoirs of knowledge on risk-adjustment programs, the Medicaid expansion, or per capita caps." The article is titled, "Jimmy Kimmel, Policy-Wonk Wannabe," but the NRO social media editor posed it as a question:

It so happens that Politico had examined that question, and found that "in the war of words between Jimmy Kimmel and Sen. Bill Cassidy, the late-night host has the better grasp of health policy, health-care analysts say." So a lot of the responses to National Review's tweet were along those lines. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. If Kimmel isn't an expert, some asked, why are these guys being invited on cable news to talk health care?

Several people noted that the occupant of the Oval Office doesn't exactly have a long health-care résumé, either:

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Others, like Nancy Sinatra, asked why National Review thinks Kimmel doesn't have the right to weigh in:

And then Jason Helgerson, who runs New York State's Medicaid program, stepped in and dropped the mic:

Twitter: Ask, and ye shall receive.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.