Grimshaw, Inc., found that the cost of paying for the health care benefits of its employees had been gradually increasing...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

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Critical Reasoning

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Grimshaw, Inc., found that the cost of paying for the health care benefits of its employees had been gradually increasing for over five years to a point where the company felt that company-provided health care benefits might soon be in jeopardy. Last year, Grimshaw requested its employees to be cost conscious about their use of health care services whenever possible, yet the company's health-care-benefit costs have continued to increase at approximately the same rate.

Which of the following, if true, argues most strongly that Grimshaw's employees did in fact heed the company's request?

Grimshaw gave its employees the names of several physicians who provide high-quality health care services at below-average cost.

The percentage of Grimshaw's employees who exercise regularly has not declined since last year.

Grimshaw made its request believing that many employees had been using the services of physicians who occasionally ordered unneeded tests.

The cost of paying for employee health care benefits represents a larger proportion of Grimshaw's overall corporate expenses this year than last year.

In the year since Grimshaw made its request, health care costs in general have increased sharply in the part of the country where Grimshaw is located.

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
Grimshaw, Inc., found that the cost of paying for the health care benefits of its employees had been gradually increasing for over five years to a point where the company felt that company-provided health care benefits might soon be in jeopardy.	What it says: Grimshaw's health care costs have been rising for 5+ years, threatening the benefits program What it does: Sets up the background problem that motivates everything else What it is: Company's assessment of situation Visualization: Year 1: $100k → Year 5: $200k (doubling threat level)
Last year, Grimshaw requested its employees to be cost conscious about their use of health care services whenever possible, yet the company's health-care-benefit costs have continued to increase at approximately the same rate.	What it says: Company asked employees to use less health care, but costs kept rising at the same pace What it does: Presents what seems like evidence that employees didn't listen to the request What it is: Company's action and observed result Visualization: Before request: 10% annual increase → After request: still 10% annual increase

Argument Flow:

The passage sets up a puzzle about employee behavior. We see rising health care costs, then a company request to reduce usage, followed by continued cost increases. This creates an apparent contradiction that the question asks us to resolve.

Main Conclusion:

There is no explicit conclusion in this passage - it presents a scenario where costs continued rising despite employee requests, leaving us to determine whether employees actually followed the company's guidance.

Logical Structure:

This is a facts-only setup that presents seemingly contradictory evidence. The rising costs after the request appears to suggest employees didn't listen, but the question asks us to find evidence that they actually did heed the request, meaning we need to find alternative explanations for why costs kept rising.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Strengthen - We need to find evidence that supports the idea that employees DID follow the company's request to be cost-conscious, even though costs continued rising at the same rate.

Precision of Claims

The key claims involve: (1) costs rising at the same rate before and after the request, (2) employees being asked to be cost-conscious, and (3) the question of whether employees actually heeded this request despite apparently unchanged cost trends.

Strategy

Since this is a strengthen question, we need to find information that would make it more believable that employees actually did listen to the company's request. The tricky part is that costs kept rising at the same rate, which makes it look like employees didn't listen. So we need scenarios that explain why costs could still rise at the same rate even if employees were being more cost-conscious. Think about external factors that could mask employee efforts or alternative explanations for continued cost increases.

Answer Choices Explained

Grimshaw gave its employees the names of several physicians who provide high-quality health care services at below-average cost.

This tells us that Grimshaw provided employees with information about cost-effective physicians. While this shows the company took additional steps to help employees be cost-conscious, it doesn't provide evidence that employees actually heeded the original request. We don't know if employees used these recommended physicians or changed their behavior at all.

The percentage of Grimshaw's employees who exercise regularly has not declined since last year.

The fact that employee exercise rates haven't declined doesn't strengthen the case that employees heeded the cost-consciousness request. Exercise habits and healthcare usage decisions are different behaviors, and maintaining exercise levels doesn't necessarily indicate that employees were more careful about using healthcare services when needed.

Grimshaw made its request believing that many employees had been using the services of physicians who occasionally ordered unneeded tests.

This explains why Grimshaw made the request in the first place - they believed employees were getting unnecessary tests. However, this background information doesn't provide any evidence about whether employees actually followed the request. It's just explaining the company's reasoning for making the request.

The cost of paying for employee health care benefits represents a larger proportion of Grimshaw's overall corporate expenses this year than last year.

If healthcare benefits represent a larger proportion of overall corporate expenses this year, this actually suggests costs are rising relative to other expenses. This would weaken rather than strengthen the argument that employees heeded the cost-consciousness request, as it implies healthcare costs are becoming an even bigger burden.

In the year since Grimshaw made its request, health care costs in general have increased sharply in the part of the country where Grimshaw is located.

This is the correct answer. If healthcare costs in general increased sharply in Grimshaw's region during this period, then the fact that Grimshaw's costs only continued at the same rate (rather than spiking dramatically) could indicate that employee cost-consciousness efforts were successful in moderating what could have been much higher increases. The employees' efforts to be cost-conscious may have been masked by external inflationary pressures in healthcare costs.

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