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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following 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.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer 1:
A government has many great responsibilities to its citizens and better health care for everyone is one of them. While free medical service is hard to maintain for a government with budget scarcity, it is a must to ensure a healthy nation. Some disadvantages are there but they can be controlled with strict laws and monitoring.

To begin with, medical services and treatments are quite expensive and the majority of the people, even in a rich nation, can not afford it. This is why the government has to intervene and make the health care affordable for all and provide free services for poor citizens. It is natural that a great number of people avoid meeting doctors for minor diseases due to expensive medical services. Many of them end with major healthcare issues which could have been easily avoided if they were diagnosed at the initial level. In fact, the ratio of such diseases is quite high - according to a Health Care Review Committee Report published recently. Moreover, epidemic diseases are often spread among the destitute population and then affect the whole nation. If those poor citizens are out of proper medical treatment, this is a concern for the whole nations.

Among downsides, free medical services often lack the quality and have fewer doctors, nurses and medical instruments. This makes the diagnosis of a disease harder and people often get poor services from such a free camp. They have to wait for a long and this is detrimental for patients who need emergency medical attention. Furthermore, the corruption often drains a large amount of money and adds burden to the government. However, these can all be controlled if proper measures are taken. In fact, the drawbacks of free public medical service are not good enough excuse to spot supporting it.

To conclude, free health care service is a great way of ensuring medical treatments for all and every government should maintain it for the overall benefit of a nation.

Model Answer 2:
Healthy people build a healthy society and this is why it is a fundamental right for people. One should take care of one’s health but the people live below the poverty line cannot afford the expenses of medical checkups and to them, health care support must be provided by the state. However, there are certain drawbacks in providing free medical care.

To begin with, the state must provide free health care to take care of the citizens, especially who can not afford expensive private healthcare services. Someone suffering from any severe health problem will be able to be diagnosed at the right time and consequently, the disease can be treated properly. Finally, the vaccines given at these centres would protect babies from dangerous diseases. The government has a responsibility to ensure proper medical services to its citizens and free health care for all is the way to achieve it.

However, some people may consider these free health camps to be disadvantageous. It is certainly possible that the concerned corrupt authorities could misuse the funds allocated for free health service and offer poor medical treatment. As a result, the financial burden on a country rises. Moreover, some people may get habituated to visit a hospital for simple silly reasons and at times, one may overuse the free medicines available and get resist to that medicine which is very drastic.

These days due to the advancement in science and technology, someone is able to determine any health abnormality at the initial level himself. For instance, the Intent has a great source of advice, tips and treatment prescribed by professional doctors and researchers that ordinary people can access and follow anytime. From this regards, people should follow a healthy lifestyle and access these free resources for their health benefits without burdening the government for their minor health-related issues.

To conclude, the state policy should include poor citizens to the free health care services, impose a small fee for others and monitor the service offered to the people.

[ Written by - Vinutna Rahul ]

Idea Generation:

Advantages of government providing free healthcare?

1. Free medical service supported by the state ensures quality treatment for all as it is free of cost. An affluent individual has a wider range of healthcare options than a lower income person. The government is meant to include all for the services it offers, not only a segment of the population.

2. Treatment these days are quite expensive and not everyone can afford it. The public funding for medical service ensures that poor and lower-middle class people get the facility.
 
3. A government has some big responsibilities to fulfil and ensuring free healthcare service for all is one of them. If a state makes education and treatment expensive and out of reach for ordinary population, a state is better without such authority! Two key areas governments focus their attention on is public health care and education. If these services are not accessible by all, there is no meaning of having a government in a country.

4. Many people do not meet doctors and check their health condition as private medical facilities cost them a huge amount of money. The state-funded free medical support would encourage them to frequent those facilities and control any diseases from the initial stage.

5. The public healthcare services are mostly run by the funds collected from the public tax money and what better use it can have than using it to treat the ill and those in need?

6. Private hospitals and medical facilities spend very little on research and the responsibility of a government to use the public funds for research to invent cures for deadly diseases cannot be overlooked.

7. The reduction and control of disease outbreaks can only be possible by providing free healthcare service for all and bringing everyone under the umbrella of the quality treatment.

8. Sometimes prevention is better than cure and the government can educate the mass population about the necessity of leading a healthy life only if it reaches to the mass people through free healthcare services.

Disadvantages of government providing free health care?

1. Free health care service includes only some basic treatment and for advanced diagnosis, people have to turn to the more expensive private medical treatment. Free healthcare usually covers only the most common treatment and the lack of doctors and trained nurses make it worse.

2. Supporting free treatment for all requires a huge budget and it is often difficult for governments in poor and developing countries to manage it.

3. In a free health care centre, patients often have to wait for a long for the treatment and prescribed surgery. Moreover, when a patient is given a date, it will be one that satisfies the hospital, not the patient.

4. The free health care centres do not have the latest medical equipment and they use old technologies to treat and diagnosis a patient. This is not the best way to serve a patient. A single doctor has to meet and take care of a large number of patients and this is detrimental for patients with the severe condition.

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