CR | Inference

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CR | Inference

by [email protected] » Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:15 am
In the United States, about $5,200 per person per year is spent on health care, while in Britain the amount is about half that. A recent study indicated that middle-aged white Americans have a significantly higher rate of diabetes and heart disease than do middle-aged white Britons. Even after eliminating from the study the lifestyle differences of diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking, the data showed that the Americans have poorer health than their British counterparts. The statements above, if true, best support which of the following assertions?

"¢ Health care spending in the United States should be reduced by 50%.
"¢ More expensive health care causes a higher incidence of certain diseases.
"¢ The money spent on health care in the United States is not being used effectively.
"¢ The average health care spending for middle-aged white Americans is probably less than the average health care spending for Americans in general.
"¢ Something other than diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking must account for the difference in health for the two groups in the study.

e

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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:19 am
Hi Experts,

Please help me with this. Got it incorrect.

I chose D as the answer. My reasoning was that I could see the leap in the argument.

The first premise talks about the spend per person
The second premise makes a leap to compare white americans specifically

Also, the language in D was broad in scope and not very specific. So, I assumed that the spend on white american was maybe lower than the average. Reason: Maybe the black fell sick more often or the asians did not have health insurance?

Please help why D is incorrect and E is correct?

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by crackverbal » Sun Oct 23, 2016 11:36 pm
The argument basically states this -
Middle aged white Americans have significantly higher rate of diabetes and heart disease than middle aged white Britons.
I know it is not caused by differences in diet, drinking, and smoking.
What is the simplest inference that I can draw from this? That it must be caused by something else. Which answer option states this? Option E.
A - cannot be inferred. Probably the higher spending has brought down the damage to current levels. Reducing the spending might make the problem much worse. Also, note that this option talks about all people in the US. However, the argument talks only about "middle-aged white Americans and Britons".
B - we cannot infer this statement from a sample size of 2 countries. Also, we do not know if health care in US is more expensive than in Britain. All we know is that the average spending in the US is higher.
C - is a very strong statement. Hence, must immediately strike you as probably incorrect. Probably the money spent has brought down the damage considerably. Some other factors must be responsible for the high rates of diabetes and heart disease.
D - cannot be inferred. We know that factors other than diet, exercise and smoking are responsible for the high rates of diabetes. We cannot be sure if that other factor is "spending". since middle aged white Americans have higher rates of diabetes and heart disease, probably their average health care spending is higher than that of the average population.
E - correct answer.
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by MBA Challengers » Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:35 am
[email protected] wrote:In the United States, about $5,200 per person per year is spent on health care, while in Britain the amount is about half that. A recent study indicated that middle-aged white Americans have a significantly higher rate of diabetes and heart disease than do middle-aged white Britons. Even after eliminating from the study the lifestyle differences of diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking, the data showed that the Americans have poorer health than their British counterparts. The statements above, if true, best support which of the following assertions?

"¢ Health care spending in the United States should be reduced by 50%.
"¢ More expensive health care causes a higher incidence of certain diseases.
"¢ The money spent on health care in the United States is not being used effectively.
"¢ The average health care spending for middle-aged white Americans is probably less than the average health care spending for Americans in general.
"¢ Something other than diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking must account for the difference in health for the two groups in the study.

e
Hi nishatfarhat87,

Starting with identifying the various premises from the stimulus:
Premise 1: In Britain about half the amount is spent per person than in the US
Premise 2: Rate of diabetes and heart disease in middle-aged white Americans > Middle-aged white Britons
Premise 3: Post elimination of lifestyle differences of diet, exercise, smoking and drinking, Americans still have poorer health than Britons

Now, let's look at the statement options to check which of these can be supported by the premises above:
A. There is no mention at all about the possibility or how can the health care spending in the US be reduced. INCORRECT
B. No mention of a comparative cost of health care. INCORRECT
C. No mention of any leakage or corruption which could lead to wastage of health care money. INCORRECT
D. The passage is comparing health care of Americans and Britons. There is no mention or bifurcation within Americans INCORRECT
E. Premise 2 and Premise 3 together lead us to conclude that the difference in the health of the two citizen classes has to do with something beyond the usual suspects of diet, exercise, smoking and drinking. CORRECT

So, the answer to the question is E.
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