LSAT 4, Logical Reasoning I, Q2, LSATHacks

LR Question 2 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Modern physicians often employ laboratory tests, in addition…

QUESTION TYPE: Sufficient Assumption

CONCLUSION: Insurance company denial of coverage for certain lab tests decreases the quality of care provided to patients.

REASONING: Doctors often use lab tests along with physical examinations in order to diagnose diseases accurately.

ANALYSIS: This looks like a straightforward argument. But we don’t know anything about the lab tests in questions. Perhaps they are useless, and there is no downside to not using them.

We need something that tells us that the lab tests are useful.

___________

1. CORRECT. Yes. This shows that for many diseases patients would have been better off if they could have used the lab tests. Note that this says “the uncovered lab tests.” This is crucial as it tells us the uncovered tests in question could produce benefits..
2. It doesn’t matter what doctors think: they could all be wrong. We should only care whether the tests are actually useful.
3. Patients without insurance hardly matter in this discussion since we are talking about what happens to patients who do have insurance.
4. That’s nice. But this doesn’t help our argument that insurance companies should cover lab tests.
5. This just tell us a fact about cost. It doesn’t let us know if the lab tests are useful.

Recap: The question begins with “Modern physicians often employ laboratory tests, in addition”. It is a Sufficient Assumption question. Learn more about LSAT Sufficient questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.

Hi, I'm Graeme Blake

Founder of LSAThacks; I scored a 177 on the LSAT.

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