On Monday, Republican opposition to Obamacare went from the ridiculous to the sublimely ridiculous. After the right-wing Weekly Standard protested the Department of Health and Human Services' outreach activities to churches, Fox News host Steve Doocy complained that the HHS enrollment flyers, bulletins, and enrollment events constituted a "violation of the separation of church and state." But those protests aren't just comical on their face. As it turns out, the Bush administration used exactly the same tactic to encourage seniors to sign up for the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. And one of the reasons we know this because President Bush and his Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt told us so.

As I've documented elsewhere ("What's the Difference between a Medicare Navigator and an Obamacare Navigator?"), the Affordable Care Act uses virtually same program of "navigators"—that is, partnerships with hospitals, universities, churches, and non-profits groups to help American enroll in a health insurance plan—that Medicare Part D depended on beginning in 2004. (As it turns out, Medicare has been pouring millions of dollars into State Health Insurance Partners—or SHIPS—since 1990.) In a July 2013 Washington Post op-ed ("To Implement Obamacare the Right Way, Look to Bush's Medicare Reform"), former HHS Secretary Leavitt explained why that was a good idea:



Before the program was implemented, only 21 percent of seniors had a favorable opinion of it, and 66 percent didn't understand what the reform would mean for them. So we spent 18 months devising and implementing a campaign to explain the prescription drug benefit, prepare seniors as well as partners -- such as community groups, churches, pharmacies, insurance plans and state and local governments -- and then sign people up. A national bus tour supported each phase. The summer before enrollment (the same period that the ACA is in now) we logged more than 600,000 miles and visited 48 states. As secretary, I made 119 stops in 98 cities. I learned that with a program like the ACA, you can't count on Washington to sell it. You have to reach people where they live, work, pray and play. [Emphasis mine.]

Continue reading about Bush's faith-based outreach for Medicare below.