After the Associated Press stylebook’s surprising decision to move from “health care” to “healthcare” in April, it sparked a heated debate among readers as well as the STAT newsroom, which uses a slightly modified version of the Associated Press style.
As STAT’s executive director of editorial operations and a longtime copy editor, I consulted with colleagues and enlisted the help of readers. The battle for a single space that has been raging for years may seem a bit ridiculous from the outside, but perhaps it is. However, this issue is probably of great importance and many people, including myself, have strong feelings about it.
After much consideration, STAT has decided to continue using “healthcare” (two words) to remain consistent with the way we have written since our founding more than a decade ago.
While usage can sometimes change from two words to one word over time (see the transition to “daycare” and “childcare” in this year’s Stylebook), we think “healthcare” is an exception. Writing “healthcare” as two words emphasizes two different concepts. And this shows that there are different types of care (again, not written as a compound word), such as prenatal care, medical care, and cardiac care.
As many of our readers who work in the medical field have pointed out, the medical industry itself has also made a significant shift toward the use of “healthcare.” However, our style is motivated by including not only the business side of medicine, but also the patient perspective.
When we asked our readers to help us with this appeal, we received an overwhelming and enthusiastic response. Approximately 60% of the 210 votes were in favor of “health care.” For some, it was a matter of grammar or linguistics. For others, it was a philosophical argument, or just common sense that words should be written one way rather than another. For many people, the word has different meanings when spelled in one or two words.
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STAT is not a democracy, but the reactions both for and against the changes helped sharpen my thinking. We have compiled the voices of our readers.
Support “Healthcare”
“Once again, the AP-style gurus have succumbed to ‘usage’ and cited industry usage as a justification for change. That’s part of the problem. The term health care applies much more broadly than business. . . . Calling it ‘health care’ is clearly wrong. Of course, I hate to think that in my nearly four years as editor of STAT, I wasted my time inserting a space between ‘health’ and ‘care.’ —Karen Penner
“As a doctor, I sometimes use the word ‘health care,’ but I’ve always had a hard time compressing it into one word. There are many types of care. Taking care of your health is one of them.” — Carol Allen
“‘Healthcare’ should be two words. As I said in a recent STAT article about the ethical objections to using the term ‘health care provider’ to describe clinicians, words matter, and certain business terminology in health care turns patients into financial abstractions.” — Lois Snyder Sulmacy
“I’ve been a copy editor for almost 30 years, and I’m tired of having to learn new things. Give my brain this one little thing as a reward.” — Katherine Dellinger
“Health care is the type of care provided by medical professionals. Health care is a sector of the economy and a commodity.” — Daniel Bryant
“We call it ‘medical care’… or ‘pediatric care’… or ‘GI care’… or ‘heart care’… those are two words!” — Grendel Barrel
“‘Health’ changes ‘care’. There are many types of care. ‘Healthcare’ is a commercialization of this term. Grammar can be ruined by just one word. ” — Mary Patrick
“I feel like (‘healthcare’) emphasizes the health part more. If it writes about mental health in one word, is it “mental health care”? To me, that somehow alleviates the “mental health” part of “mental health care”. I don’t know, but that word makes me feel sick. ” — Terry Robinson
“Please continue to use ‘health care’ as two words. I am a federal employee who enforces federal health care law. Federal law consistently uses the term ‘health care’ instead of ‘health care.'” — C. Roden
“When we lose the space between ‘healthcare’ and ‘care,’ we lose the distinction between these two important concepts. ‘Healthcare’ is an abbreviation for a vast industry. ‘Healthcare’ is a more flexible, expansive term that connects us to the humans at the center of this work: those with health needs and those who care for them. Listen, you’re already using the Oxford comma. What’s another departure from AP style?” — Andrew See
Support “Healthcare”
“This is a unique concept that we talk about a lot. It’s not just health care, it’s industrial, it’s complex, it’s healthcare providers, the term encompasses everything.” — Lynn Cotter
“‘Health care.’ I say this as a former Associated Press staffer and current health writer. It seems ridiculous that politicians, industry leaders, and others have been making one-word appeals years ago that have ‘health care’ in the quote, and it’s ‘health care’ in the story, even though it’s one word.” — Terry Langford
“For 20 years, I was a ‘healthcare’ person, and now I’m the CEO of a (company) that uses ‘healthcare’ in its name. So I’m contractually obligated to say, ‘Bravo, AP!'” — Sean Greminger
“From the perspective of someone working in policy communication, I think ‘healthcare’ (one word) better reflects how the word is used in relation to a system/sector/industry rather than simply the act of caring for health.” — Connor McGrath
“Faster without losing meaning or value – one less character or space.” —Steven Kahane
“I think it’s better to use one word instead of two whenever possible, and the same goes for ‘parenting.'” — Kathleen Harriman
“Linguistically, the transition to ‘health care’ follows the pattern of ‘babysitter.’ The first two words mentioned were ‘babysitter.’ Then came the hyphenated “babysitter.” In the end, I settled on “babysitter”. Holding on to two words is like trying to stifle the flow. ” — Alma Colclasure
“‘Healthcare’ is a word that gets thrown around a lot. Anything else seems hopelessly outdated. And this is the word of someone who still puts two spaces after a period.” — Tia Goss
“As an in-house editor and marketer for a community health plan for eight years, I meticulously maintained a two-word style preference: “Healthcare.” Several years ago, I created an editorial style guide for my current employer, a nonprofit nutrition service provider. I have come to the conclusion that the least we can do to disrupt this unwieldy, monolithic industry is to break down its cumbersome little spaces. — James Flaherty
“You have to change with the times, you dull journalists. 🙂 And it’s also effective against healthcare-associated infections.” — Jim Waps
