PrepTest 148, Section 3, Question 17
The government health service has said that it(60 more words not shown)
If the statements of both(20 more words not shown)
- AThe government health(15 more words not shown)
- BAntinfia will never(4 more words not shown)
- CIf the government(15 more words not shown)
- DThe government health(8 more words not shown)
- EAntinfia is not(1 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
How does this process ever get started?
The government won't pay until it gets detailed information about Antinfia's cost-effectiveness. Getting that information requires trials. The trials require widespread use. And widespread use requires the government to pay. We've come right back to the payment that can't happen yet.
What we’re looking for
If these statements remain true, I'd expect Antinfia never to reach widespread circulation. That's the most-likely conclusion we're looking for. It doesn't mean literally no patient could ever take the drug; the obstacle concerns the widespread use needed to get the trials going.
Working the answers
- A
We know the government's condition for paying for Antinfia. We aren't given a rule about every medicine. It could fund other drugs under different conditions while still refusing to pay for this one without the requested information.
- BCorrect
Widespread circulation needs government payment, but payment needs information that cannot be obtained until after widespread circulation. There is no available first step under the stated conditions. That supports predicting that the drug will never become widespread. We're applying the constraints we've been given, not claiming that no imaginable change in the policy or testing process could ever break the deadlock.
- C
Patients might pay for the medicine themselves, but we're given no reason to expect many of them to do so. We don't know their willingness or ability to pay. In fact, the passage specifically says widespread circulation requires government payment. Private purchases by some patients are possible without establishing C's prediction about many patients.
- D
An obstacle to getting the drug into widespread use doesn't establish what the government should do. Perhaps changing the policy would be beneficial; perhaps the government has good reasons for requiring the information. The passage gives us constraints and their consequences, not a standard that settles the right policy.
- E
Not having the cost-effectiveness information isn't the same as having information showing that the drug isn't cost-effective. The trials might eventually support either result if they could be performed. The problem is that the required information can't be obtained through the process described.
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