Jimmy Kimmel tells of his son's brush with death

In an emotional message of support for Obamacare

American comic Jimmy Kimmel has given a tearful account of his new son's brush with death as he made a heartfelt plea in support of Obamacare.

At three days old, Kimmel's son Billy had successful open heart surgery at a children's hospital in Los Angeles and is now home with his family.

Paying tribute to the medics who saved his son's life, he told viewers to his ABC talk show: 'No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child's life.'

Frequently choking back tears, he told how a nurse spotted how his son looked purple a few hours after his apparently trouble-free birth last week.

He explained that Billy wasn't getting enough oxygen into his blood, which after tests was determined to be a heart problem. His pulmonary valve was blocked a and there was a hole between the two sides of his heart.

Red-eyed, he said: 'It's a terrifying thing. I'm standing in front of a lot of very worried people… we had atheists praying for us,' he said.

The surgery was a success, and Kimmel showed the audience these pictures of his son before and after the procedure.

Jimmy Kimmel son Billy will undergo another open-heart surgery in three to six months time.

Kimmel said the emotional incident was a stark reminder of the problems in the US health system that Obamacare sought to resolve.

He said: 'Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you wouldn't be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition.

'If your parents didn't have medical insurance, you might not live long enough to even get denied.

'If your baby is going to die and doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make. '

And he said that health care should not be treated as a political football, saying: 'There are no teams; we are the team. No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child's life. It just shouldn't happen, not here.'

Donald Trump has been campaigning hard to repeal Obamacare, properly known as the Affordable Care Act, repeatedly calling it a 'disaster' and too expensive.

Here Kimmel's the clip, which has become the No1 trending video on YouTube