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City Official: At City Hospital, uninsured patients tend to have shorter stays and fewer procedures performed than do insured patients, even though insured patients, on average, have slightly less serious medical problems at the time of admission to the hospital than uninsured patients have. Critics of the hospital have concluded that the uninsured patients are not receiving proper medical care. However, this conclusion is almost certainly false. Careful investigation has recently shown two things: insured patients have much longer stays in the hospital than necessary, and they tend to have more procedures performed than are medically necessary.
In the city official's argument, the two boldface portions play which of the following roles?
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| "At City Hospital, uninsured patients tend to have shorter stays and fewer procedures performed than do insured patients, even though insured patients, on average, have slightly less serious medical problems at the time of admission to the hospital than uninsured patients have." |
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| (Boldface 1) "Critics of the hospital have concluded that the uninsured patients are not receiving proper medical care." |
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| "However, this conclusion is almost certainly false." |
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| (Boldface 2) "Careful investigation has recently shown two things: insured patients have much longer stays in the hospital than necessary, and they tend to have more procedures performed than are medically necessary." |
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The city official is rejecting critics' interpretation of hospital data by providing an alternative explanation. The logic flows: Facts → Critics' conclusion → Official's disagreement → Evidence supporting alternative explanation.
Main Conclusion: The critics' conclusion that uninsured patients receive inadequate care is false.
Boldface 1:
Boldface 2:
Boldface 1:
Boldface 2: