Updated December 3, 2022

Subtitle
The battle over healthcare in the U.S. today

Synopsis
The term “healthcare” will eventually become widely accepted as one word, not two, whether die-hard grammarians, linguists, and editors like it or not. Our language, and any discussions about health, will be significantly improved by ending this battle.

What You Will Learn
1. You will learn who is to blame for this problem.
2. You will learn what side we have chosen to align with.
3. You will learn what you should do.

Introduction
I have watched the term “healthcare” (all versions of that phrase) get grammatically abused and misused by all. Is it “health care”? Or “health-care”? Or “healthcare”? The battle over how to properly use these terms has dragged on in the U.S. for way too long.

The offender's list includes the most significant book publishing companies, dictionaries, newspaper and magazine publishers, medical institutions, and government agencies in the U.S.

Who Is to Blame for the Confusion?
These very same publishers and institutions are to blame for the prolonged confusion. Some mandate using “healthcare” as one word for all grammatical situations.

And others still insist on using “healthcare” and “health care” depending on the topic discussed or the context in which it is used. Making matters much worse, some will switch around the terms all within the same publication.

How We Handle It
Our company has deliberately chosen “healthcare” for our writing guide policy. New compound terms can seem awkward to use for a while. But eventually, we all accept and conform to the change. But we certainly understand both sides of the argument.

Most US citizens have already accepted the change to using “healthcare” as one word for all applications. Now it’s time for the last few defiant holdouts to take this opportunity and use “healthcare” as one word, not two. Our language, and any discussions about health, will be significantly improved by ending this battle.

Why We Use "Healthcare"
Why does my company embrace “healthcare” as one word? Well, “health care”, “health-care”, and “healthcare” may have grammatically been used in different ways when these terms first came about. But now, in all rational practicality, it should be one word.

The distinction between them was always fine – and way too subtle to keep up. Before long, writers and editors started dropping that confusing extra space and the hyphen, transforming a purely semantic nuance into no nuance.

The Reader's Needs Come First
At my company, our core belief is that we are obligated to our readers and students to make everything we publish and teach as easy to read and understand as possible. So, if this means using one word versus two, using an unpopular or grammatically incorrect hyphen in a word, splitting an infinitive, or using extra commas, then we’ll do it.

Our first and foremost duty is to our readers and students, not the grammar editors or linguists. Writing in such a way as to make the reading experience clearer and more productive has nothing to do with lazy writing or poor spelling skills. It has everything to do with clarity and common courtesy for the reader.

Evolution and Refinement of Our Language
But can we blame our language for simplifying and evolving? It’s equally possible that our society, in its infinite semantic wisdom, has finally decided not to split hairs – or word phrases – where it’s pointless and confusing to do so.

This refinement is not just the inevitable evolution of our language. Our language will never stop changing and improving, especially here in the U.S., and that’s a good thing. In this case, it is a sensible and long-overdue change to make.

“Health care”, “Health-Care”, and Healthcare” Defined
We will frequently see all three phrases but are unsure whether they are the same. Most people, including healthcare professionals,