when did the government get involved in healthcare
History of health care reform in the United States After the Civil War, the federal government established the first system of medical care in the South, known as the Freedmen's Bureau. The government constructed 40 hospitals, employed over 120 physicians, and treated well over one million sick and dying former slaves. The hospitals were short lived, lasting from 1865 to 1870. Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, DC remained in operation until the late nineteenth century, when it became part of Howard University.[3]