Medicare, the United States government’s health insurance program for

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that Medicare covers the full cost of home health care but does not cover the full cost of other nonhospital services, for which beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Verb Forms + Modifiers + Parallelism + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• Any elements linked by a conjunction ("but" in this case) must be parallel.
• "where" is only used to refer to a physical location.
• The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “making” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refers to the noun just before the comma.

A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "of home health care" and "with other nonhospital services"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("but" in this case) must be parallel. Further, Option A incorrectly refers to "nonhospital services" with "where"; please remember, "where" is only used to refer to a physical location. Additionally, Option A uses the passive voice construction "20 percent of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs"; the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "making" in this sentence)" construction incorrectly implies that Medicare covers the full cost of home health care but does not cover the full cost of other nonhospital services, and as a result makes beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs; the intended meaning is that Medicare covers the full cost of home health care but does not cover the full cost of other nonhospital services, for which beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs; please remember, the introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “making” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to "other nonhospital services" with "for which...costs" - conveying the intended meaning - that Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, but it does not cover the full cost of other nonhospital services, and for these services, beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs. Further, Option C correctly maintains parallelism between "of home health care" and "of other nonhospital services". Additionally, Option C avoids the incorrect usage of "where" seen in Option A, as it does not utilize "where". Besides, Option C is free of any awkwardness and redundancy.

D: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "full cost of home health care" with "which is unlike...other beneficiaries", illogically implying that Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, and this cost is unlike other nonhospital services in that beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of this cost; the intended meaning is that Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, but it does not cover the full cost of other nonhospital services, and beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs for other nonhospital services; remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma. Further, Option D uses the passive voice construction "20 percent of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "full cost of home health care" with "which is unlike...costs", illogically implying that Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, and this cost is unlike the other nonhospital services that make beneficiaries pay 20 percent of their costs; the intended meaning is that Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, but it does not cover the full cost of other nonhospital services, and beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs for other nonhospital services; remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Comma + Present Participle for Cause-Effect Relationship" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~3 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

IMO C....
|| ism ...full cost of home health care..........but not of....

In B..I think...particpal phrase ..."making benefeciaries pay...." modify nonhospital services....which changes the menaing ...bcoz it is not nonhospitla services,which is making benfeciaries pay...it is the insurance plan that doesn't cover such services...Plz elaborate if I m wrong...

Agree with age. Parellelism is the error.
".. full cost of... but not of.."

Is C the answer?

New learning for me - for which works as that.

Thanks.

i checked the web .. OA is indeed C

i think the problem with B is that sentence discusses the costs, which not covered by US govt, not the action that makes them pay 20%. so the correct choice is C. In B, 'making' focuses on the action.

This is a good question, one that (yet again) exemplifies the importance of understanding the meaning of the sentence.

I will definitely help you with choice B, but before I do that, you need to answer a few questions about the original choice.
Medicare, the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, covers the full cost of home health care, but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.

1: What does the sentence (original choice) tell us about Medicare coverage of cost of home health care?
2: What does the sentence (original choice) tell us about Medicare coverage of cost of other non-hospital services?

Once you answer the above questions for choice A, then answer the same questions for choice B
Medicare, the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, covers the full cost of home health care but not of other non-hospital services, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs.
1: What does the sentence (original choice) tell us about Medicare coverage of cost of home health care?
2: What does the sentence (original choice) tell us about Medicare coverage of cost of other non-hospital services?
3: What makes beneficiaries pay 20% of the costs?

I will look forward to your responses.

Payal

Hey Payal,

I guess sungoal is offf for now.

Here are my inputs.

The conveyed meaning : Medicare covers full cost of homecare. Whereas for other non hospital services 20% must be paid by the user.

Here IMO option B is erroneous because it gives a causal relationship for the entire clause. i.e For all the services provided by Medicare the end users must pay 20%.

In option C it is clear that only for non hospital services the users must pay 20%.

I have a few other doubts too.
What is wrong with option A ? - Is it the usage of the pronoun where. where can refer only to places but here there is no place indicated. Is A correct if we replace "where" with " in which "

According to e-gmat concept of clausation in option C,

non hospital services, for which ---> Is it ok to use which in this manner. Here the comma + for is a conjunction and there is anew clause following the for . What does which refers to. According to the meaning it refers to non hospital services. But what is the role of which in this context.

Thanks in advance.

Less is more!

1) Identify that parallelism is at play here. The full cost of home health care covers the full cost of...*this* but not *of that*
You'll have to read the whole sentence to catch where exactly that cut off is
2) D & E are out as are A. B&C are in.
3) C has a comma, which means phrase after it is describing nonhospital services. This is true. The phrase after describes nonhospital services, and not the US health insurance program in general, which is what B does.

Solve this question in 45 seconds straight:

-->Read the sentence as : Medicare covers the full cost of HHC,_____
Just breeze through the modifier, especially when it is in the non underlined part of the portion of an SC.

Context Medicare covers for thing 1, but it does not cover for thing 2.

Now, you know that but/which are your only two possible answer choices.
Which refers to the noun preceded by the word which. Hence, based on the context, you can eliminate D,E without analyzing too much.

Move to answer choices A,B,C
A) use of the word 'where' has to point to a physical location.
B) -Ing form set off by a comma refers to the whole clause, the subject, or shows the result of the preceding clause. or to say it simply -ing form here would mean that because medicare covers the full cost of home health care it is making beneficiaries pay 20% of the cost. Doesn't make sense.
C) Which here differs from 'which' in answer choices D,E. It points to other non hospital services for which extra money is paid same as in D,E, however, the modified noun did not state what the sentence meant to say.
Hence this answer choice, unlike D,E, is contextually correct

Hope this helps

Why do you think that B is incorrect.
The united states government COVERS ,the full cost of hhc but not of x, ........--->we must use a word to imply an I ongoing action. A "must pay" poses as a rule.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

IMHO. Choice B is a bit confusing. That is, the modifier can be taken to be modifying the entire clause. i.e It can mean something like "To cover the full cost for home health care but no hospital services, Medicare makes the beneficiaries pay 20%." As you see from the structure itself, this is not what the sentence wants to convey. The "paying 20%" modifier is meant for only "hospital services" and hence "which" or in this case "for which" is a better option.

This is my reasoning although I think an expert's opinion would shed better light.


Kudos Please... If my post helped.

REPOST. Specifically tagging Payal

Hi Payal/Verbal Experts,

Clarifications required on one question which has been buzzing in my head, though it may sound very naive.

Please point out which of the following statments are correct/incorrect, keeping in mind the different intended meanings. According to me, all of them are correct corresponding to their meanings.


1. You live only once.
My Thoughts : Correct. "Only" as an adverb modifies the verb "live". Meaning : Making a general statement that everyone lives only one time.

2. You only live once.
My Thoughts : Correct. Over here, "Only" modifies "You" instead of "Live". Meaning : Say if were talking to my friend Ram, I am telling him specifically that only you live once whereas a Cat has nine lives.

2. Only you live once.
My Thoughts : Correct . Reasoning same as Statement 2.

Please clarify

We generally put "only" in front of the word or phrase we're modifying. The exception would be when we put it at the end of a phrase: "My band is in town for one night only." This is an expression, but it would still be correct to put "only" in front of what it's modifying--"one night." We put "only" at the end to show restrictions or limitations: "This album is for die-hard fans only," "This lane is for buses only," "Employees Only" (this would be on a sign and is not a sentence).

#1 You live only once.

"Only" modifies "once," which in turn modifies "live." It is saying that you live exactly one time.

#2 You only live once.

"Only" modifies "live." However, there isn't really a difference in meaning here, because "only once" was modifying "live' last time. As you've probably noticed these days with people posting "YOLO" everywhere, this is the preferred form for this expression.

#3 Only you live once.

*Now* we are modifying "you." Note that this means that you are literally the *only* one who lives once, at least in the context at hand.

I hope this helps!

Medicare, the United States government’s health insurance
program for the elderly and disabled, covers the full cost of
home health care, but not of non hospital services,MAKING


The clause in GREEN is MAKING as per choice (B).

What is wrong in that?

As I have mentioned in my previous post, making should NOT modify the entire clause... The additional charges are ONLY for the non hospital services and not for the entire program..

The sentence should maintain parallelism between 'covers the full cost of' and 'but not of'

Hi Experts, I have 2 questions:

1) Comma Usage before BUT: Here the usage - Medicare covers the full cost of X, but not of Y. I always see whenever there is COMMA + BUT, then there should be independent clause after BUT. But in this case, COMMA + BUT is used to connect two prepositional phrases. Why is the rule COMMA + FANBOYS should always be followed by IC valid here?

2) ING modifier: I understand in choice B that ING is modifying the previous clause. But the last portion of the previous clause also states - "But not of other nonhospital services" and that's why I marked B thinking that it is the previous clause. Can you explain a bit on why ING is wrong here?

Thanks a lot for your help! I really appreciate it.