Modern physicians often employ laboratory tests, in addition to

Question

Modern physicians often employ laboratory tests, in addition to physical examinations, in order to diagnose diseases accurately. Insurance company regulations that deny coverage for certain laboratory tests therefore decrease the quality of medical care provided to patients.

Which one of the following is an assumption that would serve to justify the conclusion above?

(A) Physical examinations and the uncovered laboratory tests together provide a more accurate diagnosis of many diseases than do physical examinations alone.

(B) Many physicians generally oppose insurance company regulations that, in order to reduce costs, limit the use of laboratory tests.

(C) Many patients who might benefit from the uncovered laboratory tests do not have any form of health insurance.

(D) There are some illnesses that experienced physicians can diagnose accurately from physicians examination alone.

(E) Laboratory tests are more costly to perform than are physical examinations.

Source: LSAT

niks18 · Answer

The conclusion here is that because insurance companies deny certain coverage, the quality of medical care decreases.
Only Option A connects the conclusion with the premise that to diagnose diseases accurately lab tests as well as physical examinations are essential.

Option A -  Correct 
Option B - Out of scope. Physicians opposition not discussed in the argument
Option C- Out of Scope. no information provided regarding whether patients have a health insurance.
Option D- The argument does not talk about illnesses and their coverage
Option E - Cost of test not stated int he argument.

pushpitkc · Answer

The conclusion of the argument is that "Insurance company regulations" decrease 
the quality of medical care provided to patients because of denying coverage on certain laboratory tests.

This can be true if and only if laboratory tests provide a more accurate diagnosis, which is clearly stated in 
 Physical examinations and the uncovered laboratory tests together provide a more 
accurate diagnosis of many diseases than do physical examinations alone(Option A)

Ejiroghene · Answer

Ans is E using negation test- Physical examination and the uncovered insurance tests together do not provide a more accurate diagnosis of many diseases.... If they do not then there wont be a decrease in the quality of medical care provided to patients

Sent from my SM-G935F using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Sent from my SM-G935F using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

gmatexam439 · Answer

Lab tests help in improving the diagnosis. But since insurance companies deny such tests the argument concludes that medical care will deteriorate

If physical tests alone could provide diagnosis then insurance regulation wouldn’t be interfering with the diagnosis since that would suggest that lab tests are indeed unnecessary. However, if the statement is taken as is then it would help in filling the gap

Argument is not about the physician’s choice. it is about the insurance industry’s regulations. Out of scope

This would weaken the argument because if majority of patients don’t have any cover then insurance regulation won’t impact the argument

Some illnesses will always be there. For example anyone can catch a normal flu. Not relevant

Argument is not about cost effectiveness of a test. Out of scope.

Answer must be A

hazelnut : Your issue from chat
 
I thought it is a  necessary condition  for doctor to perform the examinations.

My explanation:
re-read the argument. It is stating that doctors often employ lab tests to improve diagnosis. So in order to bridge the argument we need to state something that gives the idea that "lab tests" are indeed necessary for improving the diagnosis. Option "A" does just that.

Damion123 · Answer

Modern physicians often employ laboratory tests, in addition to physical examinations, in order to diagnose diseases accurately. Insurance company regulations that deny coverage for certain laboratory tests therefore decrease the quality of medical care provided to patients.

Which one of the following is an assumption that would serve to justify the conclusion above?

Given: Lab Test + Physical Examination --> Accurate diagnose of diseases.
Insurance Company Deny coverage of certain Lab Test --> decrease the quality of medical care provided to patients.

Author assumes that Lab tests which would be denied by Insurance Co. play important role in accurate diagnose of diseases.

(A) Physical examinations and the uncovered laboratory tests together provide a more accurate diagnosis of many diseases than do physical examinations alone.  Yes. Right. Negating the option breaks the Argument.
 
(B) Many physicians generally oppose insurance company regulations that, in order to reduce costs, limit the use of laboratory tests.  Out of Scope

(C) Many patients who might benefit from the uncovered laboratory tests do not have any form of health insurance.  Out of Scope

(D) There are some illnesses that experienced physicians can diagnose accurately from physicians examination alone.  Out of Scope

(E) Laboratory tests are more costly to perform than are physical examinations.  Out of Scope

Aviral1995 · Answer

VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja   egmat  COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN OPTION C. After Applying variance test it strenthens and weakens the argument, then why is it not an answer??

TheGraceful · Answer

Remember the conclusion: 
If Insurance company denies cost for certain medical tests then there is decrease in the quality of medical care provided to patients (by insurance company).

This option - option C - talks about case/possibility, where people dont have any health insurance. That means there is no question of impact on quality of healthcare provided by an insurance company (to that patient).

rengoku · Answer

Restated premise cannot be an assumption, right.

Option A is a restatement of the first premise.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, can you please post the OE, it would be helpful

TheGraceful · Answer

No, there is NO such rule on GMAT CR.

And by the way, option A is NOT restatement of premise. Read colsely.

Premise: Modern physicians often employee laboratory tests, in addition to physical examinations, in order to diagnose diseases accurately.

Option-(A): Physical examinations and the uncovered laboratory tests together provide a more accurate diagnosis of many diseases than do physical examinations alone.

Premise says, doctors to something in addition to one thing with some intent. (not sure of results/does NOT validate claim)
Option A provides fact that two thing together DO provide something (results)

prabhjotgill1826

Restated premise cannot be an assumption, right.

Option A is a restatement of the first premise.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, can you please post the OE, it would be helpful

As for POE, many of the above explanations have given that.
Hope this helps.

Rickooreo · Answer

Powerscore official solution

The conclusion in this stimulus is that insurance company regulations which deny coverage for lab tests decrease the quality of health care. This conclusion requires a couple assumptions. First, that the insurance restrictions are leading to reduced use of tests. (This seems like a plausible assumption according to ordinary economic reasoning, but it is not stated in the stimulus.) Second, that the lab tests actually improve the quality of health care.

The question stem asks us to "justify" the conclusion, meaning that a single correct answer choice will fill in all the missing assumptions and make the argument air-tight.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. This answer choice states that the lab tests improve quality of medical care. This is the best answer choice, although it does not exactly "justify" the conclusion as the question stem asks. Note that the argument still has a missing assumption: it has failed to establish that the insurance restrictions are reducing use of the tests by patients. The LSAT test makers did not choose their words very carefully here.

Answer choice (B): The personal opinion of physicians regarding the insurance restrictions does not give us a clear implication about whether these lab tests improve quality of care. Perhaps physicians favor these tests because they truly provide value for patients \96 or perhaps physicians favor these tests because they are good revenue generators.

Answer choice (C): If some patients who might benefit from the tests have no health insurance whatsoever, then the insurance restrictions do not affect these patients. A reduction of quality of care is thus impossible for these patients (unless we make the roundabout argument that doctors lose revenue and thus the overall quality of their medical practice suffers). This answer choice tends to weaken the stimulus argument.

Answer choice (D): Even if "some" illnesses can be diagnosed without lab tests, this answer choice does not speak to the issue of whether lab tests improve quality of medical care. If anything, this answer choice weakens the stimulus by showing that lab tests are not quite so valuable as we might suppose.

Answer choice (E): This answer choice does not speak to the issues of (1) value added for patients by the lab tests, or (2) whether the insurance restrictions are reducing use of the lab tests.

Littlegenie · Answer

hello i got confused between and e

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

Hi  Littlegenie  thats fine as you develop more understanding of how to analyse gap, the things will get clear. Coming back to confusion

Author bases his conclusion on the assumption that both LT and PE are necessary together for accurate assessment and if they are not together then denial by insurance company to cover LT will be not be helpful. This link is mentioned in Option A whereas E compares the costing which is not necessary to hold conclusion true negated version of E is LT not more costly the PE even if LT is not more costly the conclusion still holds true. Hope this helps

Usernamevisible · Answer

I???m struggling to understand why option A is correct.

Option A says that physical examinations combined with laboratory tests provide more accurate diagnoses than physical examinations alone. But isn???t this already implied in the premise, which states that physicians use laboratory tests along with physical examinations to diagnose diseases accurately? To me, this already suggests that both together improve diagnosis.

Because of this, I did not see A as adding anything new.

Instead, I chose option C. My reasoning was:

The conclusion says that insurance regulations denying coverage for certain lab tests decrease the quality of medical care. This suggests a causal chain: insurance policy ??? patients don???t take tests ??? quality decreases.

Option C seemed to support this by implying that access to insurance affects whether patients take tests. I interpreted it as: if insurance covered these tests, patients would take them; if not, they wouldn???t. So insurance regulations appear to influence whether patients undergo testing, which in turn affects care quality.

However, I???m unsure where this reasoning breaks down. Specifically:

1. Why doesn???t the premise already establish what A states?
2. Why is my causal interpretation using C considered invalid?

guddo · Answer

Modern physicians often employ laboratory tests, in addition to physical examinations, in order to diagnose diseases accurately. Insurance company regulations that deny coverage for certain laboratory tests therefore decrease the quality of medical care provided to patients.
 
 Which one of the following is an assumption that would serve to justify the conclusion above?

The conclusion says that denying coverage for some lab tests lowers the quality of care. For that to follow, the argument must assume that those uncovered tests actually help doctors diagnose some patients more accurately than physical examination alone.  Without that link , denying coverage would not necessarily reduce quality.

(A) Physical examinations and the uncovered laboratory tests together provide a more accurate diagnosis of many diseases than do physical examinations alone.

This is the needed assumption.  If the uncovered lab tests improve diagnostic accuracy , then denying coverage for them can reduce the quality of medical care.

(B) Many physicians generally oppose insurance company regulations that, in order to reduce costs, limit the use of laboratory tests.

This is irrelevant. Physicians may oppose the rules for many reasons, and their opposition does not show that quality of care is reduced.

(C) Many patients who might benefit from the uncovered laboratory tests do not have any form of health insurance.

This weakens the argument if anything. If many such patients have no insurance anyway, coverage rules are not the key issue for them.

(D) There are some illnesses that experienced physicians can diagnose accurately from physical examination alone.

This does not justify the conclusion. The argument needs to show that some uncovered tests are useful, not that some illnesses do not require them.

(E) Laboratory tests are more costly to perform than are physical examinations.

This is irrelevant. The argument is about quality of care, not cost.

Answer: (A)

Modern physicians often employ laboratory tests, in addition to

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