Health Care or Healthcare? The AP Weighs In

With everything going on in the world these days, you may have missed one update that is monumental for writers. On April 24, the Associated Press (AP) announced that it is updating its style guide to clarify that “healthcare” should be written as one word and not as “health care.” The same rule applies to “childcare” and “daycare.”

This change may seem trivial, but you would be amazed at how many outlets and organizations differ in listing “healthcare” as one or two words. The lack of clarity creates a headache for both editors and writers.

Personally, I prefer writing “healthcare” as one word because it fits the definition of a compound word to a tee, which is two distinct words being joined together to form a word with its own combined meaning. While there will still be those who are militant about writing “healthcare” as two words, it is nice to see the AP issuing some guidance in this area.