Veteran reporter destroys GOP's pre-existing conditions lie in powerful 1-min fact check

The lie is so obvious that it only took about 30 seconds for a reporter to prove it.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel has been exposing this cruel provision in the legislation that Republicans are trying to ram through Congress (even offering bribes), and for his efforts he has become one of the right’s top enemies. Fox News has gone after him, as have Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the men behind the legislation.

Donald Trump lamely tried to come to the defense of Graham and Cassidy, pushing propaganda about pre-existing conditions to his Twitter feed.

But a report from NBC’s Kasie Hunt easily proved that Kimmel is right and that the Republicans are being deceptive to the millions who would be affected when they claim the bill passes the “Jimmy Kimmel test.”

Hunt noted that while Obamacare bans insurance companies from charging sick people “dramatically higher” insurance premiums, under Graham-Cassidy, “individual states could decide to change that.”

And she spoke to Sabrina Corlette, from Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, who explained, “The state just has to say that it intends to maintain affordable, adequate coverage, but it doesn’t have to say how it’s going to do it, it doesn’t have to provide any evidence at all that it will do it.”

WATCH: Latest GOP health care bill faces the “Jimmy Kimmel test” – again. @kasie reports. https://t.co/hSFYPQr0fQ

— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) September 22, 2017

HUNT: The Affordable Care Act made it illegal for insurance companies to deny sick people coverage. That ban would stay in place. But Obamacare also outlawed charging sick people dramatically higher premiums and under this bill, individual states could decide to change that.

CORLETTE: The state just has to say that it intends to maintain affordable, adequate coverage, but it doesn’t have to say how it’s going to do it, it doesn’t have to provide any evidence at all that it will do it.

HUNT: That could devastate the Bohannon family. They’re already collecting donations to pay for their son’s coverage, just in case.

Hunt also spoke to the Bohannon family, who has a toddler suffering from a rare heart condition — the type of ailment that the Republican plan would allow insurers to gouge patients on, which they are prevented from doing under current law.

The Bohannons told NBC that they are already fundraising to have money set aside if the Graham-Cassidy bill passes and is signed into law by Trump.

The lie at the heart of the Republican bill was shockingly simple for Hunt to dismantle. She stated the current law, and cited what the bill changes, then spoke to an expert on health care, who explained how deceptive the language in the legislation is.

For an issue as traditionally complex as health care, the simple way in which this has collapsed is an indictment of the conservative push to force this devastating plan onto the nation.

Millions of people will be hurt if this becomes the law, and even more of them will have suffering families who must contend with the fallout. This is why Jimmy Kimmel’s message is having such a strong impact, and why Republicans and their media allies are so angry at him for telling the truth.

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