Jay: Of course there are many good reasons to support the expansion of

I would start with Jay's conclusion, which is that "arguments claiming that [the expansion of preventive medical care] will lead to greater societal economic gains are misguided."

Why are those arguments misguided?... because "Some of the greatest societal expenses arise from frequent urgent-care needs for people who have attained a long life due to preventive care." In other words, preventive care helps many people live longer, but then those very people often have urgent-care needs. Those urgent care-needs are a great societal expense.

Sunil responds by pointing out the societal economic loss that results from a LACK of preventive medical care: "society suffers an economic loss when any of its productive members suffer from preventable illness." Sunil thus concludes that Jay's argument fails.

To summarize, Jay describes one way in which the expansion of preventive medical care will lead to a societal economic LOSS. Sunil responds by describing a societal economic GAIN (i.e. avoiding the economic loss that occurs when productive members of society suffer from preventable illnesses). So, which of the answer choices represents an assumption made in Sunil's response?


Sunil's response has nothing to do with urgent care. Instead, Sunil only talks about avoiding the economic loss that occurs when productive members of society suffer preventable illnesses. Eliminate (A).


Sunil responds by discussing an economic gain outside the health care system. Thus, if "economic gains" referred only to gains accruing to institutions within the health care system, Sunil's argument would not apply! Making the assumption stated in choice (B) would actually hurt Sunil's argument, so it is certainly not a required assumption. Eliminate (B).


Sunil's argument does not require that productive members of society are more likely than others to suffer preventable illnesses. Productive members could be just as likely or even less likely to suffer preventable illnesses than others. Regardless, preventive care would help avoid the economic loss that occurs when those productive members of society DO suffer preventable illnesses. Choice (C) is not a required assumption.


Remember, Sunil responds by describing a societal economic GAIN (i.e. avoiding the economic loss that occurs when productive members of society suffer from preventable illnesses). But what if that economic gain is SMALLER than the economic loss described by Jay? In other words, what if the frequent urgent-care expenses outweigh the economic gain described by Sunil? In that case, Jay's conclusion (that arguments claiming that the expansion of preventive medical care will lead to greater societal economic gains are misguided), would still be valid. Sunil is trying to argue that Jay's argument fails. Without making this assumption, Jay's argument will NOT fail, so choice (D) looks good.


Sunil only talks about avoiding the economic loss that occurs when productive members of society suffer preventable illnesses. This argument is valid regardless of whether patients who receive preventive medical care are long-lived. Eliminate (E).

Choice (D) is the best answer.

I hope that helps!