From the New Deal to Meaningful Use: Government Stimulus and Healthcare Technology

When we look back at history through the long lens of time, we often discover unexpected connections between seemingly disparate epochs. The river of human progress flows not in straight lines but in meandering currents, with ideas from one era feeding tributaries that emerge generations later in entirely different contexts. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the relationship between the sweeping social programs of the 1930s New Deal and the technological transformation of American healthcare in the early 21st century.

In the depths of the Great Depression, a bold experiment in government intervention reimagined the relationship between citizens and their federal government. Nearly eight decades later, as electronic screens began replacing paper charts in hospitals across America, we witnessed another form of government stimulus—one designed not to build dams and highways, but to construct digital infrastructures for managing our health information. Between these two watersheds of government spending lay profound questions about the role of federal stimulus in shaping society, questions that would resurface yet again during the COVID-19 pandemic when government funds flowed directly into citizens' bank accounts with unprecedented speed and volume.

This essay explores how the philosophy of government stimulus for social good that animated the New Deal found unlikely expression in the HITECH Act's "Meaningful Use" program—a targeted injection of federal funds designed to revolutionize healthcare documentation through electronic medical records. By following this thread through American history, we discover not just an economic story, but a deeply human one about how societies adapt to crises and how government intervention shapes the technological landscape of our most intimate institutions.

From the Tennessee Valley Authority to the digital terminals in emergency rooms, from the Works Progress Administration to electronic prescription systems, the legacy of government stimulus reveals patterns that help us understand not just where we have been, but where we might be heading. The questions raised by these three distinct eras of federal spending—the New Deal, Meaningful Use, and COVID-19 relief—illuminate enduring tensions in American society about individualism versus collectivism, technological progress versus human values, and the proper role of government in times of transformation.

Join me as we embark on this historical journey, examining how government stimulus has evolved from building physical infrastructure to digital infrastructure, and finally to direct financial support—each approach reflecting the unique challenges and possibilities of its time.

Part I: The New Deal - Reinventing Government's Role in American Life

The Crucible of Crisis

On that cold March day in 1933 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office, America stood at the precipice. The economic collapse that had begun with the stock market crash of 1929 had metastasized into a systemic crisis that threatened the very foundations of American society. One-quarter of the workforce stood unemployed. Thousands of banks had failed, evaporating the savings of ordinary Americans. Farmers watched helplessly as crop prices plummeted while foreclosures skyrocketed. The machinery of American capitalism, once the envy of the world, had ground to a devastating halt.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," Roosevelt famously declared in his inaugural address. But Americans had much to fear: hunger, homelessness, and a profound loss of faith in institutions. The rugged individualism that had characterized the American ethos proved inadequate in the face of systemic collapse. Something more was needed—a collective response channeled through the federal government on a scale never before attempted in peacetime.

The New Deal emerged not as a single coherent plan but as a cascade of pragmatic experiments, an improvised response to unprecedented conditions. It represented a fundamental reimagining of the relationship between citizens and their government. No longer would Washington remain a distant, limited presence in American life. Instead, the federal government would become an active participant in economic recovery, a guarantor of basic security, and a catalyst for infrastructure development that private enterprise could not or would not undertake alone.