Jimmy Kimmel breaks down while discussing baby son’s heart disease

May 2, 2017 5:00 PM

He also shared his thoughts on American healthcare.

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Late night TV host

Billy arrived on April 21 to Jimmy and his wife Molly McNearney. Because of his rare condition, Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, Willy needed open heart surgery to survive.

Jimmy fought through tears while talking about Billy's birth and taking the time to thank everyone who helped save his son’s life, including the nurse who first detected his heart murmur and the surgeon who opened his blocked pulmonary valve.

… “We were brought up to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world, but until a few years ago, millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all. 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 conditon. You were born with a pre-existing condition. And if you didn’t have medical insurance, you might not live long enough to even get denied because of a pre-existing condition. If your baby is going to die and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make.”

“It’s a terrifying thing," Kimmel said. “My wife is back in the recovery room. She has no idea what’s going on. I’m standing in the middle of a lot of very worried people—kind of right now.”

Then, in a rare political statement, Kimmel blasted Republican efforts to repeal the ACA:

“And I want to say one other thing. President Trump last month proposed a six billion dollar cut in funding to the National Institutes of Health. And thank God, our Congressmen made a deal last night to not go along with that—they actually increased funding by two billion dollars, and I applaud them for doing it. Because more than 40 percent of the people who would have been affected by those cuts are children.