Jimmy Kimmel takes a modest bow on health care, hopes he can go back to talking about Kardashians

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Jimmy Kimmel Live)

last updated 26 September 2017

Jimmy Kimmel said on Monday night's Kimmel Live that over the weekend, strangers in three cities he visited just kept approaching him to tell him stories about how the Affordable Care Act had saved or improved their lives, then thank him for his bizarre, high-profile opposition to the Republicans' latest effort to replace ObamaCare with a bill that fails Sen. Bill Cassidy's (R-La.) "Jimmy Kimmel Test." "They came up to me and said, 'Mr. Fallon, thank you for speaking out,'" Kimmel joked. "I talked to probably 200 people, and I heard these stories over and over agin."

The latest GOP bill, Graham-Cassidy, is wildly unpopular, even among Republican people, but Republican politicians "don't actually care what you think; they want you to think what they think," Kimmel said. "That's why they keep saying ObamaCare is a 'disaster.' You hear that word a lot. ObamaCare definitely needs work, but think about this: Did anyone have to convince you Hurricane Harvey was a disaster?"

He repeated his thanks to Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) for helping to apparently doom the bill, then he played clips of Fox News reacting to his thank you tweets and an article on how Kimmel consulted with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and health experts before criticizing Graham-Cassidy. Kimmel responded to the accusation that he's a "pawn" of the Democrats with a sarcastic "confession" and then noted that six organizations have fact-checked his critique against Cassidy's defense, and all of them sided with Kimmel. With the bill at least on life support, he took his bow. "The best news is, now I can go back to talking about the Kardashians," Kimmel joked. Well, maybe. Watch below. Peter Weber

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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.