A Company is Considering Offering a Wellness Program to its 3000 Employees

Question: A Company is considering offering a wellness program to its 3000 employees in order to generate multiple benefits, including a reduction in healthcare costs. Before offering the program company wide, the Company has tested it by offering it to 500 randomly selected employees. Of those 500, 250 signed up for the program and 250 didn't. Over the next year, the average per person healthcare cost of the 250 who signed up for the program was approximately $300, while that of the 250 who didn't sign up was approximately $500. Clearly, offering the program company wide would result in reduction of healthcare costs.

Which of the following, if true, would must seriously undermine the force of the evidence presented?

1. For the year during which the wellness program was tested, the healthcare costs associated with some of the 2500 employees not offered the program were well under $300
2. Even after being made aware of the results of the test, many of the Company's employees indicated that they would not sign up for the program
3. At another company of similar size with no wellness program, the annual average per person healthcare cost is approximately $250
4. The average per person healthcare cost of the 2500 employees not offered the program was approximately $400 for the year over which the wellness program was tested
5. The 10 employees with the highest healthcare costs for the year over which the wellness program was tested were ones who had signed up for the program

A Company is Considering Offering a Wellness Program to its 3000 Employees – is a GMAT critical reasoning topic. This GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘GMAT Official Guide Verbal review 2022’. In this particular topic, candidates are asked to select the most appropriate explanation which undermines the force of the evidence presented. In this question, the candidates need to provide an option that supports the argument provided in the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument.  The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: D
Explanation: A GMAT Critical Reasoning section comprises facts and a conclusion. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Let us check each and every option one by one:

Option A: Incorrect.
Option A is not correct as it provides non-definitive data. Here we can see the word some that may refer to any values. Hence this option is incorrect. 

Option B: Incorrect.
Option B is irrelevant because there is no evidence of the past. It would be difficult to know about the future. 

Option C: Incorrect.
Option C is irrelevant because it states that other companies may be involved. This would be significant because the lower age group is involved. 

Option D: Correct.
Option D is correct because it implies that the sample is not representative. Here 250 cost price opted by the program is comparatively less. Hence option D is correct.

Option E: Incorrect.
Option E strengthens the argument. Let us consider that 10 employee expenses up to 10,000. The others have an expense of up to 300. Hence, calculating: (10000*10+300*240)/250= 688. 

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