Healthcare vs. Health Care – What’s the Difference?
I’ll be the first to admit it – I’m a bit of a grammar guru, and I hate when I’m wrong. I cringe when people use the incorrect form of there or their, your and you’re, poor and pour. I’m completely mortified if I find that I’ve made this type of mistake in my own writing. With that said, something that has bothered me since I started writing about healthcare nearly three years ago is the question of healthcare vs. health care. That little space in the word and the fact that the words seem to be used interchangeably across the industry drives me insane. Is there a difference in the definition or form of these two words, or is healthcare vs. health care interchangeable? Personally, I write it as one word – but WHAT IF I’M WRONG? Does anyone else sit around asking stupid questions like this, or is it just me? I was pondering on this today when I finally decided to take it to the trusty Google. I am happy to find that many people are actually wondering about healthcare vs. health care too. Maybe it’s not a stupid question after all. So, let’s talk grammar. What’s the Deal with Healthcare vs. Health Care? Healthcare vs. health care – what industry do you work for? Was this always an issue, or where along the line did we get lazy and just decide to make it one word? After all, we don’t ever write “acutecare” or “medicalcare.” We include a space when we write those similar terms… at least for now, we do. We also have publications, such as Modern Healthcare, which doesn’t include the space. Modern Healthcare must be right, right? After reading many different websites, from grammarist.com to thedoctorweighsin.com, I’ve found that in the United States there really is no clear direction on this. The most solid assumption, though, is that the words should not be used interchangeably because they don’t necessarily mean the same thing. It turns out that technically, I’ve been writing it wrong. Before we break this grammar lesson down in detail, here’s an example of a sentence that uses both words as they are supposed to be written. You work in the healthcare industry, and your job is to provide health care to your patients. Alright, so here we go....
Read more