Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1965
Medicare
medical care
- Meaning
- The US federal health insurance programme for people over 65.
- Source words
- medical + care
- Coined by
- US Congress
- Year
- 1965
Background
The programme name came from the 1965 Social Security Amendments. Australia and Canada later used the same name for their universal systems, borrowing the American coinage without the American meaning.
Mid-century: TV and science
Two engines dominated: television (sitcom, televangelist) and post-war big science (pulsar, transistor). Many mid-century coinages came from scientific style sheets and industry journals.
Two words, one coinage.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.