Pharmaceutical manufacturers have long claimed that one of the main re

Question

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have long claimed that one of the main reasons they give doctors free drug samples is so that doctors can pass the medicine along to poor patients. However, a new study shows that high-income, well-insured individuals receive considerably more prescription drug samples than do low-income, poorly insured individuals. This is because doctors favor affluent people with health insurance. 
 
Which of the following, if true, most seriously jeopardizes the validity of the explanation for why high-income individuals receive more free prescription drug samples than low-income individuals do?

(A) Independent medical clinics not affiliated with large hospitals receive only a small percentage of the free drug samples distributed by pharmaceutical manufacturers.

(B) Because of the associated costs, low-income people see doctors less often, if at all.

(C) Some medical offices refuse to treat individuals for conditions that are not critical or life-threatening if the individual does not have the means to pay for the treatment.

(D) Once the free drug sample supply in a doctor’s office is gone, the patients are forced to pay for their prescriptions.

(E) Though they claim to give doctors free drug samples in order to help poor patients, the real reasons pharmaceutical companies do it are to increase brand awareness and to influence the doctor to prescribe these drugs more often.

This question is a part of QOTD Question Collection

sun01 · Answer

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have long claimed that one of the main reasons they give doctors free drug samples is so that doctors can pass the medicine along to poor patients. However, a new study shows that high-income, well-insured individuals receive considerably more prescription drug samples than do low-income, poorly insured individuals. This is because doctors favor affluent people with health insurance.

(A) Independent medical clinics not affiliated with large hospitals receive only a small percentage of the free drug samples distributed by pharmaceutical manufacturers.---  so what? no effect. 
(B) Because of the associated costs, low-income people see doctors less often, if at all. -- Correct answer 
(C) Some medical offices refuse to treat individuals for conditions that are not critical or life-threatening if the individual does not have the means to pay for the treatment. -  strengthens 
(D) Once the free drug sample supply in a doctor’s office is gone, the patients are forced to pay for their prescriptions.  generic. no impact. 
(E) Though they claim to give doctors free drug samples in order to help poor patients, the real reasons pharmaceutical companies do it are to increase brand awareness and to influence the doctor to prescribe these drugs more often.--  no impact on conclusion.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have long claimed that one of the main reasons they give doctors free drug samples is so that doctors can pass the medicine along to poor patients. However, a new study shows that high-income, well-insured individuals receive considerably more prescription drug samples than do low-income, poorly insured individuals. This is because doctors favor affluent people with health insurance.

Since doctor favor affluent people with health insurance , high-income, well-insured individuals receive considerably more prescription drug samples than do low
income, poorly insured individuals.
 
Weakens- 
(A) Independent medical clinics not affiliated with large hospitals receive only a small percentage of the free drug samples distributed by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Irrelevant 
(B) Because of the associated costs, low-income people see doctors less often, if at all. 
Correct answer - If low income people see doctors less often , the likelihood of them receiving free sample reduces .
(C) Some medical offices refuse to treat individuals for conditions that are not critical or life-threatening if the individual does not have the means to pay for the treatment. Incorrect - This answer strengthens the fact that doctor favor affluent people with health insurance
(D) Once the free drug sample supply in a doctor’s office is gone, the patients are forced to pay for their prescriptions. 
Out of scope 
(E) Though they claim to give doctors free drug samples in order to help poor patients, the real reasons pharmaceutical companies do it are to increase brand awareness and to influence the doctor to prescribe these drugs more often.
Irrelevant

Answer B

Abhishek009 · Answer

Free drug samples = Pass the medicine along to poor patients.
Drug sample : High-income > Low-income
Doctors favor affluent people with health insurance.

All other options except (B) are irrelevant....
 
 (B) states , poor people see doctors less often ( due to associate costs , may be doctors fees ) , so though docs are willing to provide the free samples they can not provide it to the poor people.

So what use are the free sample to Docs ? They provide the samples to High-income patients ,who can afford to visit the Docs.

Carcass · Answer

Added the OA. Thank you for the discussion guys.

Regards

GMATYoda · Answer

Veritas Prep Explanation:

This is a Weaken question, as demonstrated by the phrase, “which of the following… jeopardizes the validity of the explanation.” The explanation is found in the last sentence:  “doctors favor affluent people with health insurance .” There is no data anywhere else in the problem that indicate this is true, so it is easy to “mind the logical gap.” The answer choice will either show that the explanation is not necessarily true or give an alternate explanation for the argument.
 
Answer choice “A” is irrelevant to the logical gap. It focuses on hospitals and medical clinics (instead of on doctors) and makes no mention of poor or rich patients.
 
Answer choice “B” gives an alternative explanation for why poor people receive fewer free samples. It shows that associated costs keep low- income patients from seeing doctors in the first place; thus, doctors do not even have the chance to disperse drugs to these patients. Because it successfully undermines the explanation, “B” is the correct answer.
 
The Testmaker included answer choice “C” as an alternative answer to confuse novice test takers. It does focus on an alternative explanation for why poor people don’t receive medical care: some medical offices refuse to treat such individuals for non-emergency conditions. This clearly weakens the argument. However, notice the distinction between answer choice “B” and answer choice “C”. Answer choice “C” is very limited, using phrases such as “some medical offices.” On the other hand, answer choice “B” is much more broad-ranging, making an overarching statement about low-income people in general. “B” is an answer that weakens the argument more.
 
Answer choice “D” is a distraction. It talks about what happens in a doctor’s office after the free drug supply is gone. The problem, however, focuses on how the free drugs are distributed. Answer choice “D” cannot strengthen or weaken the argument, because it makes no mention of what happens to the free drug supply. It is irrelevant to the logical gap of the problem.
 
Answer choice “E” is also a distraction, making novice test takers focus on something other than the logical gap. Answer choice “E” focuses on the motivations of pharmaceutical manufacturers, not on the motivations of doctors. It tells us nothing to undermine the assertion that doctors favor affluent people in the way they distribute free drugs.

VerbalBot · Answer

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