This question appeared on the IR study section , but i am not completely convinced with their answer
Joseph: Health insurance premiums are growing at an alarming rate. This is, in part, because many hospitals and
clinics bill for unnecessary diagnostics and tests that inflate the subsequent amount that insurers pay out to them.
These expenses are then passed on to consumers in the form of increased insurance premiums. Therefore,
reducing the number of unnecessary tests performed by health care providers will be effective in controlling
growing health insurance premiums.
identify the assumptions upon which argument depends
A. Doctors are generally able to determine, with great reliability, which
diagnostic procedures and tests would yield the most effective
results.
B Tests and diagnostic procedures do not make up an insignificant
portion of the bills that are sent to insurers.
C Insurance companies in other industries, such as auto and home,
have been able to reduce costs by reducing the number of unnecessary
repairs and replacements on claims for automobiles and homes.
D Patients are not just as likely as doctors to choose the most expensive
diagnostics and tests.
E Health insurance premiums have increased twice as fast in the past
five years than they have over an average of the past 25 years.
Answer : B .... Joseph argues that growing health insurance premiums can be controlled by reducing
the number of unnecessary tests performed by doctors. He says this because many
tests that are performed, and then billed to insurance providers, are unnecessary. But
note the assumption: While this practice may relate to some excess expenditure, the
argument assumes that it’s enough excess spending that, if it were cut, could save the
healthcare industry quite a bit. Accordingly, the second assumption, that “tests and
diagnostic procedures DO NOT make up an insignificant portion of the bills to insurers,”
is required. Without it—if we could then say (via the Assumption Negation Technique)
that these tests do represent an insignificant portion of the bill—their presence or
absence does not matter. Accordingly, Joseph’s argument requires that fact.