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Insurers’ Stocks, Unhurt by the Dawn of the Health Care Law
By ANNA BERNASEK
The Affordable Care Act has been controversial — so much so that Republican objections to it were a principal cause of the recent partial shutdown of the federal government.
Yet from the financial perspective of the health care industry, Obamacare, as the law is often known, doesn’t seem much of a hindrance.
In fact, it may even turn out to be positive.
Consider the situation of health insurance providers.
Because they face new regulations intended to broaden coverage and limit profit-taking, some analysts have been concerned that profits will suffer. But in the run-up to the Affordable Care Act, stock market prices have told a different story.
Over the last 12 months, shares of the top five publicly traded health insurance companies — Aetna, WellPoint, UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Cigna — have increased by an average of 32 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has risen by just 24 percent.
Strong profits in the current year, as growth slowed in overall health care costs, is one probable explanation for the outperformance by the group.
Another is the growing expectation that payments from new customers required to buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act will offset costs from new regulations.
Health insurance companies themselves haven’t exactly sounded an alarm about the Affordable Care Act’s arrival.
Mark T. Bertolini, the Aetna chief executive, said recently: “We continue to believe that public exchanges can represent a longer-term upside opportunity.”
And most health insurers are forecasting earnings growth after the health care law is fully in effect.
David Cordani, Cigna’s chief executive, said his company’s average annual earnings per share would grow 10 to 13 percent over the next three to five years.
If such projections are correct, someday we may look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.
Insurers’ Stocks, Unhurt by the Dawn of the Health Care Law
By ANNA BERNASEK
The Affordable Care Act has been controversial — so much so that Republican objections to it were a principal cause of the recent partial shutdown of the federal government.
Yet from the financial perspective of the health care industry, Obamacare, as the law is often known, doesn’t seem much of a hindrance.
In fact, it may even turn out to be positive.
Consider the situation of health insurance providers.
Because they face new regulations intended to broaden coverage and limit profit-taking, some analysts have been concerned that profits will suffer. But in the run-up to the Affordable Care Act, stock market prices have told a different story.
Over the last 12 months, shares of the top five publicly traded health insurance companies — Aetna, WellPoint, UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Cigna — have increased by an average of 32 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has risen by just 24 percent.
Strong profits in the current year, as growth slowed in overall health care costs, is one probable explanation for the outperformance by the group.
Another is the growing expectation that payments from new customers required to buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act will offset costs from new regulations.
Health insurance companies themselves haven’t exactly sounded an alarm about the Affordable Care Act’s arrival.
Mark T. Bertolini, the Aetna chief executive, said recently: “We continue to believe that public exchanges can represent a longer-term upside opportunity.”
And most health insurers are forecasting earnings growth after the health care law is fully in effect.
David Cordani, Cigna’s chief executive, said his company’s average annual earnings per share would grow 10 to 13 percent over the next three to five years.
If such projections are correct, someday we may look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.
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