LSAT 134 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q8

LR Question 8 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Journalist: To reconcile the need for profits sufficient to support …

QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Justify

CONCLUSION: It’s not justified to charge lower prices in poorer countries and higher prices in richer countries.

REASONING: A country with a low average income can still have many people who are relatively wealthy, while a rich country can still have many people who are poor.

ANALYSIS: The companies are setting prices based on which country someone lives in.

The journalist objects because:

• Some people in poor countries can afford the drugs.
• Some people in rich countries cannot.

So the journalist thinks the companies are looking at the wrong characteristic.

Instead of asking: What country does this person live in?

They should be asking: Can this particular person afford the drug?

We’re looking for a principle that says people should be treated based on their own circumstances, not based on characteristics of a group they belong to.

___________

1. The journalist isn’t comparing sick people to healthy people. Everyone being discussed needs medicine.
2. This says companies should help poor people. It doesn’t explain why country-wide pricing is unfair. The journalist’s objection is about how companies decide who gets lower prices.
3. CORRECT. The companies are making pricing decisions based on the country someone lives in. The journalist argues they should instead look at the individual’s own situation, i.e. whether that person actually needs financial help.
4. This claims that the current setup favors wealthy nations. But based on the stimulus, that’s not actually true. The journalist thinks poor people in wealthy nations are at a disadvantage. So access isn’t experienced the same across an entire nation – that’s the whole point.
5. We’re not comparing unfairness in wealth to unfairness in health care. The journalist only makes a claim about this specific healthcare practice.