Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said Friday he was not yet ready to support the healthcare bill proposed by his party's leadership Thursday, but it does pass "the Jimmy Kimmel test."
"Yes, it does," the first-term Louisiana legislator told Anderson Cooper on CNN. "There's no lifetime limits" on coverage.
"It lowers the cost of premiums.
"A big thing is you can have insurance – but if you can't afford the premiums, you don't really have insurance.
"It lowers the cost."
Cassidy, 59, who is a physician, is being targeted by advocacy groups seeking to keep Obamacare in place.
He is among Republicans remain undecided on the legislation. Five others have already said they cannot support the plan.
During the debate on the House version of the American Health Care Act that was passed last month, Cassidy said any new legislation needed to pass the Kimmel test.
He was referring to nighttime talk-show host, who tearfully described his newborn son's open-heart surgery in a plea for quality health coverage for all in April.
Cassidy said the Senate plan keeps core health benefits.
"It does not repeal the essential health benefits," he told Cooper. "Covers maternity, addiction and all the other things you'd expect it to cover.
"Turns out, those [benefits] are only 4 percent of the total cost of the premium.
"So, I personally think that is a small price to pay."
But Cassidy is not yet ready to fully support the legislation.
"I'm still working through it," he said. "We're two-thirds of the way through it.
"My staff and I are looking at it."