Read the following article from a website.
Nova Scotia’s health department plans to pay two private clinics in Dartmouth to perform up to three thousand hip and knee replacements a year, starting in the spring. Patients would pay nothing themselves, and the province would cover each operation at the same rate it pays hospitals. At present, the typical wait for a knee replacement in the province is fourteen months, and more than eight thousand people are on the list. The plan was announced in August, and every public meeting about it since then has been crowded.
Winnifred Hollis, a retired teacher who spoke at a public meeting last week, says the plan worries her. “When my husband needed heart surgery, nobody asked for a credit card at the door. That moment is the reason I trust the public system,” Hollis said. “Once private companies get a place in the system, people with money will find a way to the front of the line. I am not against new ideas, but I am against a second line.”
Anand Iyer, an orthopedic surgeon who would operate at one of the clinics, calls those fears understandable but out of date. “I have patients who can barely walk to the mailbox, while hospital operating rooms sit empty on weekends because there are no teams to run them,” Iyer said. “The clinic would add rooms and hours. The patient still pays nothing,” he added.
Gloria Jaramillo, who manages nurses at a rural hospital two hours from the city, says the real shortage is people, not rooms. “Every nurse who takes a weekday job at a private clinic is a nurse who is not on my night shift,” she said. “The city may get shorter lists, but rural emergency rooms will close more often,” Jaramillo added. Ansel Ikeda, a health policy analyst, says he would accept a trial with conditions. “Publish the wait times every month, for the clinics and the hospitals side by side,” Ikeda said. “If the hospital lists grow, the experiment should end. If they shrink, the critics should listen.”
Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.
Anand Iyer would likely say that the plan’s critics 2..
Gloria Jaramillo expects that clinics hiring hospital nurses would lead to 3..
What matters to everyone quoted in the article is 4..
This article would most likely be published in 5..
The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: a plan to pay private clinics for some public operations
Why this is correct: The health department plans to pay two private clinics for hip and knee replacements. Every speaker reacts to that plan.
Passage Reference: Nova Scotia’s health department plans to pay two private clinics in Dartmouth
Tips: Compare each option with what Hollis, Iyer, Jaramillo and Ikeda each say. Choose the option that each section of the article helps to explain.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a new fee for patients who use emergency rooms: Patients would pay nothing. No fee is described.
- a shortage of teachers in rural schools: Hollis is a retired teacher, but schools are not discussed.
- a study of heart surgery results across Canada: Heart surgery comes up only in Hollis’s story about her husband.
Correct Answer: have fair worries that no longer apply
Passage Reference: calls those fears understandable but out of date ... The patient still pays nothing
Why this is correct: Iyer calls the fears understandable but out of date. So he thinks the critics’ worries make sense but do not fit the plan today.
Tips: Read Iyer’s quotes and the sentence that introduces what he thinks. Keep the option his words lead to, and drop any that matches another speaker.
Why the other options are wrong:
- are right about a second line: Hollis fears a second line. Iyer answers that the patient still pays nothing.
- should wait for monthly wait-time reports: Ikeda asks for monthly wait times. Iyer does not.
- are mostly nurses from rural areas: Jaramillo manages nurses, but Iyer does not say who the critics are.
Correct Answer: emergency rooms outside the city closing more often
Passage Reference: The city may get shorter lists, but rural emergency rooms will close more often
Why this is correct: Jaramillo says nurses who move to clinics leave gaps in hospitals. She warns that rural emergency rooms will close more often.
Tips: Find Jaramillo’s quotes and read them closely. Choose the result she expects, not the condition in the item line.
Why the other options are wrong:
- patients paying to get to the front: Hollis fears people with money will find a way to the front. Jaramillo talks about staff, not money.
- operating rooms sitting empty on weekends: Iyer says rooms sit empty now. Jaramillo does not predict this as a result.
- monthly reports on hospital wait times: Ikeda asks for monthly reports. Jaramillo does not mention them.
Correct Answer: whether patients can get care when they need it
Passage Reference: people with money will find a way to the front of the line ... I have patients who can barely walk to the mailbox ... rural emergency rooms will close more often ... If the hospital lists grow, the experiment should end.
Why this is correct: Hollis fears a faster line for people with money, and Iyer’s patients can barely walk. Jaramillo fears emergency rooms closing, and Ikeda watches the wait lists.
Tips: Check each option against Hollis, Iyer, Jaramillo and Ikeda, one by one. Drop it as soon as one of them gives no sign of caring about it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- keeping private companies out of health care: Hollis is against private clinics, but Iyer would work at one and Ikeda would accept a trial.
- paying surgeons more for weekend work: No one talks about paying surgeons more.
- using operating rooms that sit empty: Only Iyer talks about empty operating rooms. The others do not mention them.
Correct Answer: a newspaper read across the province
Passage Reference: The plan was announced in August, and every public meeting about it since then has been crowded.
Why this is correct: The article reports a provincial plan and quotes local people who disagree about it. A Nova Scotia newspaper would print this kind of news.
Tips: Think about the kind of text this is and who it is about. Then keep the place that would print it without changes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a medical journal for bone surgeons: No study or surgical method is described. The article reports a public debate.
- a brochure from a private clinic: A clinic brochure would promote the plan. This article also gives the critics’ side.
- a guide to knee exercises at home: The article gives no exercise advice. It reports views on a health plan.
Correct Answer: fourteen months
Passage Reference: the typical wait for a knee replacement in the province is fourteen months
Why this is correct: The typical wait for a knee replacement in the province is fourteen months.
Tips: Find the figure for how long people in the province wait for a new knee.
Why the other options are wrong:
- eighteen months: Eighteen months is not in the article.
- ten months: Ten months is not in the article.
- two years: The article gives a shorter wait than two years.
Correct Answer: eight thousand
Passage Reference: more than eight thousand people are on the list
Why this is correct: More than eight thousand people are on the list.
Tips: The plan and the wait each come with a large number. Pick the one about people.
Why the other options are wrong:
- nine thousand: Nine thousand is not in the article. The figure given is eight thousand.
- twelve thousand: Twelve thousand does not appear in the article.
- fifteen thousand: The article gives a smaller number than fifteen thousand.
Correct Answer: a credit card
Passage Reference: nobody asked for a credit card at the door
Why this is correct: Hollis says that when her husband needed heart surgery, nobody asked for a credit card at the door.
Tips: The commenter is repeating the retired teacher’s story. Find what she says nobody asked her family for.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a deposit: Hollis does not mention a deposit.
- a cash payment: Hollis does not mention cash.
- a signed bill: Hollis does not mention a bill.
Correct Answer: night shift
Passage Reference: is a nurse who is not on my night shift
Why this is correct: Jaramillo says every nurse who takes a clinic job is a nurse who is not on her night shift.
Tips: The commenter means the nurse manager. Find which part of her hospital’s schedule loses people.
Why the other options are wrong:
- day shift: Jaramillo names a different shift.
- weekend shift: Weekends come up in Iyer’s point about empty rooms, not in Jaramillo’s words.
- evening shift: Jaramillo does not mention an evening shift.
Correct Answer: three thousand
Passage Reference: to perform up to three thousand hip and knee replacements a year
Why this is correct: The two clinics would perform up to three thousand hip and knee replacements a year.
Tips: Look at the details of the department’s plan. Check which figure describes the work the clinics would do each year.
Why the other options are wrong:
- one thousand: One thousand is not in the article.
- five thousand: Five thousand is not in the article.
- two thousand: Two thousand is not in the article.
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