single-payer

adjective

sin·​gle-pay·​er ˈsiŋ-gəl-ˈpā-ər How to pronounce single-payer (audio)
: of, relating to, or being a system in which health care providers are paid for their services by the government rather than by private insurers

Examples of single-payer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The analysis will also arrive about 10 years after Colorado voters decisively shot down Amendment 69, which would have created a single-payer health care system in the state. Nick Coltrain, Denver Post, 14 May 2025 Past attempts to implement similar policies failed due to legal challenges and the complexity of U.S. drug pricing, which involves multiple private and public payers, unlike the single-payer systems in other countries. Steve Brozak, Forbes.com, 13 May 2025 Trump’s order takes aim in part at other countries, many of which have single-payer health systems with more leverage to negotiate down drug prices with manufacturers. Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC, 12 May 2025 Trainee doctors constitute 30% to 45% of the physician workforce in major teaching hospitals, part of a system that relies on resident and interns’ cheap labor to offset the low reimbursement rates set by the government’s single-payer National Health Insurance System. Kayti Burt, Time, 16 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for single-payer

Word History

First Known Use

1987, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of single-payer was in 1987

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Cite this Entry

“Single-payer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/single-payer. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.

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