A 1991 calculation was made to determine what, if any, additional heal

Question

A 1991 calculation was made to determine what, if any, additional health-care costs beyond the ordinary are borne by society at large for people who live a sedentary life. The figure reached was a lifetime average of $1,650. Thus people's voluntary choice not to exercise places a significant burden on society.

Which one of the following, if true and not taken into account by the calculation, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Many people whose employment requires physical exertion do not choose to engage in regular physical exercise when they are not at work.

(B) Exercise is a topic that is often omitted from discussion between doctor and patient during a patient's visit.

(C) Physical conditions that eventually require medical or nursing-home care often first predispose a person to adopt a sedentary lifestyle.

(D) Individuals vary widely in the amount and kind of exercise they choose, when they do exercise regularly.

(E) A regular program of moderate exercise tends to increase circulation, induce a feeling of well-being and energy, and decrease excess weight.

IanStewart · Accepted Answer

It's C; it's just a reversal of cause and effect. The argument says "people who choose not to exercise develop medical problems which cost society money." C says that the medical problems might instead cause people not to exercise. Those medical problems are then the source of the expense to society, and not people's unwillingness to exercise, as the argument claims.

None of the other answers even seem particularly relevant, so I think you could also arrive at the answer here by elimination.

None of the other answers even seem particularly relevant, so I think you could also arrive at the answer here by elimination.

joshnsit · Answer

A 1991 calculation was made to determine what, if any, additional health-care costs beyond the ordinary are borne by society at large for people who live a sedentary life. The figure reached was a lifetime average of $1,650. Thus people's voluntary choice not to exercise places a significant burden on society.
Which one of the following, if true and not taken into account by the calculation, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) Many people whose employment requires physical exertion do not choose to engage in regular physical exercise when they are not at work.
(B) Exercise is a topic that is often omitted from discussion between doctor and patient during a patient's visit.
(C) Physical conditions that eventually require medical or nursing-home care often first predispose a person to adopt a sedentary lifestyle.
(D) Individuals vary widely in the amount and kind of exercise they choose, when they do exercise regularly.
(E) A regular program of moderate exercise tends to increase circulation, induce a feeling of well-being and energy, and decrease excess weight.

Please come with explanations. OA later.

naoyixue · Answer

in the material, author just concluded that people's voluntary choice not to exercise places a significant burden on society. meaing that the burden depends on the choice from people. It's selective. While, via C, we get to know, it does not depend on people's choice. the decision not to do exercise depends on the physical condition ( such as require medical or nursing-home care ). So we get to know not the people's choice casue more cost on the society, but the phsycial condition.

For A, it just said people do not want to exercise when they are not at work. Obviously, we see that's choice from peole, so A prove the conclusion, it strengthens not weakens

For A, it just said people do not want to exercise when they are not at work. Obviously, we see that's choice from peole, so A prove the conclusion, it strengthens not weakens

metallicafan · Answer

+1 C

This choice indicates that probably the cause of the high costs is not the sedentary life but the physical conditions that require medical care.
A cannot be the answer because it refers to people who don't have a sedentary life.

deucebigalow · Answer

Hi,
The argument talks about "people's voluntary choice not to exercise" .In C, it sounds like people adopt a sedentary life style as a result of a medical condition not voluntarily.

So how can this be the oa?

alokgupta1009 · Answer

Conclusion is - Not to exercise is a voluntary choice 
C says - No, it is due to some other reason.

That's how it's weakening the conclusion.

Hope it make sense.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

nayanparikh · Answer

The correct answer is A.
Lets break the argument.

Premise: As per the calculation done in 1991, the heath care cost reached the average of $1650.
Premise: The health care cost are borne by the society who prefer the sendentary life.
Conclusion: People choice not to Exercise places burden on the society.
We a need statement that breaks this conclusion:

(A) Many people whose employment requires physical exertion do not choose to engage in regular physical exercise when they are not at work.- Correct. Since people are already doing physical exercise during their employment and that is why it is not by choice that they do not exercise 
(B) Exercise is a topic that is often omitted from discussion between doctor and patient during a patient's visit.-  Out of Scope 
(C) Physical conditions that eventually require medical or nursing-home care often first predispose a person to adopt a sedentary lifestyle. WE do not know people's mentality and nothing has been mentioned 
(D) Individuals vary widely in the amount and kind of exercise they choose, when they do exercise regularly. Out of scope 
(E) A regular program of moderate exercise tends to increase circulation, induce a feeling of well-being and energy, and decrease excess weight. Out of Scope

deucebigalow · Answer

If OA is c in this question, I believe there is a problem with it. The conclusion is about people who voluntarily choose not to exercise and as a result become unhealthy resulting in further health costs, whereas in C, it is talking about people who mandatorily become sedentary because of health problems. Option A looks better, as in this option people voluntarily not exercise, as they already have an active life style.

$!vakumar.m · Answer

mikemcgarry 
Please throw some light on this question.. I see a difference in view between answer choice A/C
As per my view.. answer shall be A

DmitryFarber · Answer

First, let's establish that this is an official LSAT question, and the answer really is C. The LSAT is extremely well-made, and questions that cause anomalies in testing are removed from scoring, so the chance of catching an error in one of these questions is extremely close to zero. I can think of maybe two or three questions out of the thousands of available LSAT questions for which the officially answer is remotely debatable. A is definitely not the answer!

So why not? The conclusion is about people who choose to lead a sedentary lifestyle. A is about people who are active at work. These people are not sedentary, so they are completely out of scope of the conclusion. Note that nowhere in the argument do we see that people need to be active during their leisure time. If I got paid to exercise all day, I'd certainly feel fine about going home and sitting on the couch! That makes A an absolute nothing in terms of weakening the argument. It cannot be a contender.

C weakens the argument by suggesting that the very people who cost society extra $$ (those who need high levels of care) become sedentary *because* of the conditions that require those expenses. In other words, there's no indication that they CHOSE to be sedentary, but there is now also significant doubt about whether their sedentary lifestyle was the cause of the expense anyway.

The author's logic looks like this:

People choose to be sedentary --> The sedentary lifestyle leads to greater costs --> So their choice costs us money.

C allows us to question the first two items in that chain. We don't know that a sedentary lifestyle is a choice, and we don't know that being sedentary actually leads to greater costs. Therefore, C severely weakens the argument.

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