Although the new cochleae manufactured by Medotech will cost more than twice as much as the cochlear implants now in use, Medotech implants should still be cost-effective. Not only will surgery and recovery time be reduced, but Medotech cochlear replacements should last longer, thereby reducing the need for further hospital stays.
conclusion: Medotech implants should still be cost-effective
reasoning: Medotech cochlear replacements last longer= reducing further hospital stays= cost effective
hospitals stays are more expensive that the cost difference between the two different implants
possible underlying assumptions:
1) Hospital stays are expensive, and no other factors other than hospital stays influence expenses for the patients wrt Medotech implants
2) present Cochlear implants are not more cost effective in other ways to compensate more than required for the hospital visits as compared to Medotech implants
3) hospital stay costs are way more than the difference in the purchase cost between the two kinds of impantswith this reasoning in mind lets attack the options:
A. The amount of time a patient spends in surgery versus the amount of time spent recovering from surgery.
the amount spent in surgery is completely irrelevant to the argument, it can be more or less or the same for the two implants, therefore this option is irrelevant
B. The amount by which the cost of producing Medotech cochlear replacements has declined with the introduction of the new technique for producing them.
how is production cost relevant with cost savings wrt hospital stays? this is way out of scope with the argument and our initial reasoning
C. The degree to which the use of Medotech cochlear replacements is likely to reduce the need for repeat surgery when compared with the use of the replacements now in use.
This is the correct answer!! as the need for another surgery is reduced so are the costs wrt the hospital stays after the surgery!
D. The degree to which the use of Medotech replacements are more carefully manufactured than are the replacements now in use,
the replacements could still be better or good enough even if they are not as carefully manufactured
E. The amount by which Medotech will drop in cost as the production procedures become standardized and applicable on a larger scale.
suppose Medotech drops the cost by 1% then it is still more expensive and this option still doesnt provide us with a reason as to how Medotech is still more cost effective despite being expensive
C is the correct option!