What does "medicare" mean?

The Canadian public health insurance system.

How do you pronounce "medicare"?

Pronounced //ˈmɛdɪˌkɛə//.

Common synonyms include: adc, aerospace medicine, biomedicine, clinical medicine, comparative medicine, constitutional medicine.

//ˈmɛdɪˌkɛə// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The Canadian public health insurance system. Canada, uncountable
"He said, for him, the Liberals defined Canada by championing medicare and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and by addressing such issues as same-sex marriage."
2
health care for the aged; a federally administered system of health insurance available to persons aged 65 and over wordnet

Proper Noun

1
The system of government subsidies for health care for the elderly and disabled. US
"My mom started getting Medicare last week."
2
The publicly funded universal health care system, operated by the government authority Medicare Australia. Australia
"Medicare benefits are available to all persons ordinarily resident in Australia with the exception of members of foreign diplomatic missions and their dependants."
3
Alternative letter-case form of medicare. Canada, alt-of

"Nearly 50 million older Americans and Americans with disabilities rely on Medicare each year."

Blend of medical + care.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.