The Republican senator who said the GOP's ObamaCare replacement plan must "pass the Jimmy Kimmel test" told the late-night comedian that his viewers should call senators and demand that it falls in line with broad promises from President Trump.

"We will get there if the American people call their senators, if they call their senator who's a Democrat and say, 'Listen don't just sit on the sidelines, engage' ... and call your Republican senators, say, 'We've got to fulfill President Trump's contract,' " Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told Kimmel during a "Jimmy Kimmel Live" interview Monday night on ABC.

He said if voters in both parties call their senators, "we get an American plan ... and that's where we need to be."

Trump made a series of broad healthcare promises during the campaign and after winning the election, including that he would lower premiums, refuse to cut Medicaid and offer insurance to everyone.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cassidy appeared on Kimmel's show after telling CNN late last week that a GOP bill to replace ObamaCare has to "pass the Jimmy Kimmel test." Kimmel had earlier disclosed during an emotional, nearly 13-minute monologue that his son had been born with a heart defect and noted that the defect would be considered a pre-existing condition that could prevent his son from acquiring health insurance later in life.

The GOP senator added on Monday night that "we have got to have insurance that passes the Jimmy Kimmel test," arguing middle-class families can't afford their current premiums.

"On the Senate side, we need to make it work because we have to lower those premiums so that if another child is born that child can get the care that he or she needs," he said.

After Kimmel argued his "test" for the ObamaCare replacement bill was that families shouldn't be denied healthcare just because they can't afford it, Cassidy said his idea was heading in the right direction.

"Hey man, you're on the right track. ... [But] we've got to be able to pay for it, that's a challenge," Cassidy added.

House Republicans passed a healthcare reform bill, the American Health Care Act, last Thursday that included a provision allowing states to apply for waivers for community rating, one of ObamaCare's protections for people with pre-existing conditions. If a state receives a waiver for the provision, it could allow insurers to charge exorbitant premiums to people based on their health, a move that could price many out of being able to afford insurance.

Pressed on whether he thought Americans — regardless of income — should be able to get regular check ups, Cassidy said, "Yep."

He also appeared to suggest that insurance companies could get rid of annual or lifetime caps without the cost of a plan skyrocketing.

"You could eliminate that cap and it doesn't really impact the cost of the policy," he said, "it does to an extent, but not to such an extent that you have to have the cap."