Professional Documents
Culture Documents
OET - Writing Samples
OET - Writing Samples
to pay for better services. All taxpayers fund the 30 percent private health insurance
rebate at a cost of $3 billion a year. Yet the 57 per cent of people without insurance
are being left out in the cold. In addition, taxpayers are also footing the bill for the
marketing of private health insurance.
In his last speech, Treasurer Peter Costello said that the Government would spend
$55million over the next four years to increase consumer awareness of the incentives
and benefits associated with private health insurance.
The industry should be thrilled to have its marketing campaign underwritten by
Australian taxpayers. This money, together with the $3 billion rebate, would be better
spent on reinvigorating the public health care system, rather than propping up the
private sector.
So, what is the solution? How the public system is funded is critical. The current
commonwealth/state funding model of public hospitals is inefficient and wastes
resources. The health system is also being crippled by workforce shortages, especially
in rural areas. Australia is in dire need of not just doctors and nurses, but also allied
health professionals such as physiotherapists, dieticians and podiatrists.
Underpinning the success of these measures is a government willing to engage
consumers in a health care debate. Governments in Canada and the UK have
successfully involved consumers in designing their healthcare systems. Australia can
learn some important lessons from this egalitarian approach. Healthcare reform is not
just about redistributing the current health care dollar. It is about finding a lasting
solution that goes beyond election cycles and political expediency. It requires a
government with the courage to undertake reforms bases on asses not income.
Viola Korczak is health policy officer at the consumer organisation Choice.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Understanding meaning from context: Try to work out the meaning of the following
expressions from the article. Use a dictionary and the internet to find out the
meaning.
1. mixed bag of policy tricks
2. deepen the divide
3. Despite the bells and whistles of the package
4. cash strapped family
5. a bleak picture
6. affording health insurance is pie in the sky
7. squeeze out
8. egalitarian nation
9. to foot the bill
10. to be left out in the cold
Insurance Reform
Answer Sheet
Question 1
a) Incorrect: Untrue
b) Incorrect: Untrue
c) Incorrect: Untrue
d) Correct
Question 2
a) Correct: Yet in the governments overhaul of the private health sector, only those with private cover will benefit.
The majority of Australians will get left behind.
b) Incorrect
c) Incorrect: ..a cure for arthritis has proved elusive. Elusive is synonym for hard to find
d) Incorrect
Question 3
a) Incorrect
b) Incorrect
c) Correct (best choice)
d) Incorrect
Question 4:
a) Incorrect
b) Incorrect
c) Correct: . Over the last five years, premiums have increased by 40.9 per cent. Thats a rise equivalent to double
the rate of inflation each year since 2001
d) Incorrect
Question 5
a) Incorrect
b) Correct: All taxpayers fund the 30 percent private health insurance rebate at a cost of $3 billion a year.
c) Incorrect:
d) Incorrect:
Question 6
a) Incorrect: Mentioned: The health system is also being crippled by workforce shortages, especially in rural areas. Australia
is in dire need of not just doctors and nurses, but also allied health professionals such as physiotherapists, dieticians and
podiatrists.
b) Incorrect: Mentioned: The current commonwealth/state funding model of public hospitals is inefficient and wastes
resources.
c) Incorrect Mentioned: The current commonwealth/state funding model of public hospitals is inefficient and wastes
resources.
d) Correct: Not mentioned