Phil Klein rightly slams President Bush for “drastically” expanding the welfare state by passing Medicare Part D. Bush definitely erred by growing government without trying to fundamentally reform it in exchange. And Klein does not even mention the fact that Medicare Part D helped pave the way for Obamacare. Without the billions for prescription drug spending already on the books, there is no way Obama keeps the price tag for Obamacare below $1 trillion.

All that said, Medicare Part D often gets too bad a rap in conservative circles and Phil’s post leaves out a significant fact about the programs past and future costs that will be relevant in future entitlement debates. Phil writes: