Run

someone told me this today: "state run health insurance". Is it correct or must it be runS?

1) It is correct: state run health insurance.

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run

v.tr

9. To cause to function; operate: run a machine.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Compa

You have already answered the question Mountain hiker. Let me add just add something.

I think "Run" here IS past tense. It's not the first form of "run" but the third form, the past participle.

So in the sentence the word run can't be changed into "runs" because 's' doesn't apply to past tenses.

I wonder if it is a vebral adjective. Let's see what miriam says.

Thanks a lot.
I must've put my question in the wrong way.
the situation was:
HE: We have medicare here . State run health insurance.
I: run? not runS?
HE: Not runs. Its not a verb i think.
I: Of course it is!
HE: Its adjectival. The phrase is not a sentence. Its a clause decribing what medicare is.

Ooooops Sorry when I said "run" is past tense, I meant it was a past "form" and not a tense that inflects.

So I what I was thinking was not wrong.
It is a verbal adjective or an adjectival.
Thanks

Yes, it is the past participle of the verb "to run".
A hyphen would look great because, in reality, "state" and "run" are used and understood as one word: state-run health insurance.

"Runs" would be used in a sentence with the same meaning if "run" were the main verb (a conjugated verb):
"The state runs health insurance in this country."