Jimmy Kimmel began his Monday show on an unusually serious note. Credit:Jimmy Kimmel Live

Kimmel thanked the doctors and nurses each by name, along with his colleagues for being so supportive, and encouraged viewers to donate to the hospital. He threw in a few jokes ("I hate to say it, but even that son of a bitch Matt Damon sent flowers.") and assured his wife that he's definitely getting a vasectomy.

Then he switched gears, turning serious again. "President Trump last month proposed a $US6 billion cut in funding to the National Institute of Health, and thank God our congressmen made a deal last night to not go along with that. They actually increased funding by $US2 billion, and I applaud them for doing that," Kimmel said. "Because more than 40 per cent of the people who would have been affected by those cuts to the National Institute of Health are children."

"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," he continued. "Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you would never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition. You were born with a pre-existing condition, and if your parents didn't have medical insurance, you might not even live long enough to get denied because of a pre-existing condition."

The health care reforms introduced by former President Barack Obama, called the Affordable Care Act and known as Obamacare, included provisions which meant people with pre-existing conditions could not be denied insurance or charged significantly more, as they had been in the past. The Republicans are currently debating how to repeal and replace Obamacare and which provisions should remain.