Health care

Health care, or healthcare, refers to the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the medical, dental, pharmaceutical, clinical laboratory sciences nursing, and allied health professions. Health care embraces all the goods and services designed to promote health to populations.

Before the term health care became popular, English-speakers referred to medicine or to the health sector and spoke of the treatment and prevention of illness and disease. including preventive, curative and palliative interventions, whether directed to individuals or a health care company. 
A health care provider is an organization that provides facilities and health care personnel to deliver proper health care in a systematic way to any individual in need of health care services. A health care provider could be the health care industry, a health care equipment company, an institution such as a hospital or medical laboratory. 

Health care professionals may include physicians, dentists, support staff, nurses, therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, chiropractors, and optometrists. Practicing health care without a license is generally a serious crime that could be punished by up to several years in prison.