IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample (Package 6)

Topic
Every government has a duty to provide free health care for its people. What are the advantages and disadvantages of government providing free healthcare?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience

Sample Answer
Health care is one of the most fundamental rights of the people, and government has a responsibility to ensure that every citizen gets health care support. Some people believe that free health care should be provided by the state, especially for the people who live below the poverty line.

I personally believe that the state is not the only one being responsible for ensuring the people's health, and that free health care policy is going to be difficult to implement. First of all, it is hardly possible to cover everyone's health expense, since it will give the state a financial burden. Giving full health care support is even more difficult for developing countries, because national budget will also be allocated for other important aspects of life like like infrastructure and education. There are some drawbacks of implementing free health care policy. If a person can get access to health care for free, there is a possibility that they will no longer have the motivation to live a healthy life. They do not care about their wellbeingness because the state will take care of it anyway. Sooner or later, this condition will lead to other problems. Moreover, giving a free health care for all means that tax will have to be raised. Higher tax rate will put a lot of burden on poor people. People who have income below average find it difficult just to buy their daily needs and provide good education for their children. Health is not their only concern and hence, raising the tax will definitely be the last option.

A free health care policy will be advantageous if it is properly implemented. The state does not have to fully cover the people's health care, but it can initiate an insurance program which will help the people cover their health expenses. In some countries, government subsidizes health care so that it will be affordable for the people to get a proper medical treatment and medication. In some countries, the government is using alternative way of applying high tax rate on cigarette and alcoholic beverage so that the money can be allocated for building health facilities like hospital. This is done considering the health damage that can be caused by cigarette and alcohol. On certain occasion, health care should be given for free when it concerns health issue in a larger scope. This includes vaccination and the containment of certain contagious and deadly illness like swine flue and avian influenza.

In summary, personal health is the responsibility of each individual. People have the right to get good health care, but it does not necessarily mean that everyone can get it for free. Government is responsible for the health of the people, and this can be done by implementing a good national health care program, as well as some alternative policies.

Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the article above are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any institution and/or government. This article is written only for illustration. Some information may not be accurate.



Note
In some cases of IELTS Writing Task 2, you will find an extremely difficult. The difficulty may result from several factors, some of them are listed as follows:

• There might be some topics you are not familiar with. I'd recommend you to do a lot of practice and try a range of different topics
• Some topics might require the use of certain technical terms. Topic related to health is one of them. To overcome this problem, you may want to expand your vocabulary by doing an extensive reading. You can start by reading things that you like. For example, you can read sport magazine if you like sport. After you find the motivation to read, you can start taking more challenging topics those related to social and political issues
• Sometimes it is difficult to measure your ability when there is no feedback. In this case, you can ask somebody (teachers, friends, anyone with good mastery of English) to read your Task 2 essay. Ask for their opinion and if it is possible, tell them to point out the mistakes you've made and correct those mistakes for you. If you can't find somebody to read your writing, there are some websites and blogs that offer Writing Task 2 checking service. You might want to check them out.
• Sometimes, writing Task 2 essay will require a little background knowledge. For instance, you can never write an essay about national security if you don't even know what national security is.
• Expand your knowledge by doing extensive reading, and improve your writing skill by doing a lot of exercise! Those are two keys to success in IELTS Writing.