In the United States, about $5,200 per person per year is spent on hea

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

To make a valid assertion from the information in the argument, we can only rely on the facts that we are given:

1) A study found that middle-aged white Americans are sicker than middle-aged white Britons;
2) the researchers eliminated the lifestyle differences of diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking as causes of the health difference;
3) average health care spending per person is higher in the United States than in Britain.

If any additional information is needed in order to support an assertion, then it is not a valid conclusion.

Be careful to avoid making unintentional assumptions! The health care costs given in the argument are the average costs per person per year in each nation, yet the study only looked at the health of middle-aged white people. It is unclear exactly what amount of money is spent on health care for the age group and race studied. For example, the average health care spending in the United States may include dramatically higher costs for care of premature infants, so it is possible that health care expenditures for the middle-aged white Americans in the study are actually the same as, or even less than, expenditures for their British counterparts.

(A) Reducing health care spending in the United States by 50% would equalize the amount of money spent on health care in the United States and Britain. There is an assumption made that there is some reason to do so, perhaps in the hopes that American health will consequently improve to the level of British health, or perhaps simply to save money. The facts given in the argument are not sufficient to support this assertion.

(B) Although the recent study indicated that the middle-aged white Americans have poorer health than their British counterparts despite apparently more expensive health care, there is no evidence that the cost of the health care is a cause of health or sickness for either group.

(C) It is possible that health care in the United States costs more because the money is being used ineffectively. This assertion is one potential explanation for the poorer health of the Americans in the study, despite apparently higher spending on health care. However, more information is needed to conclusively make this assertion, such as proving that money is currently being wasted, and on what. Additionally, it is unclear exactly how much money is spent on health care for the age group and race studied, so the poorer health of the American patients does not necessarily tell us anything about the effectiveness of the money spent on them.

(D) As mentioned previously, the health care costs given in the argument are the average per person per year in each nation, yet the study only looked at the health of middle-aged white people. It is unclear exactly what amount of money is spent on health care for the age group and race studied. While it is reasonable to wonder whether the average health care spending for middle-aged white Americans is less than the average health care spending for Americans in general, we don’t have enough information to conclude that this is the case.

(E) CORRECT. The study revealed some differences in the health of middle-aged white Americans and middle-aged white Britons. The study did not indicate the reason for the difference. However, the researchers did eliminate the lifestyle differences of diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking as causes of the health difference. Thus, it can be conclusively asserted that something else (other than diet, exercise, smoking and drinking) must account for the difference in health for the two groups in the study.