Humana, WellPoint, UnitedHealth Drop

123jump.com Staff
08 Oct, 2009
New York City

Health insurance providers declined sharply after the latest proposal discussed in the Senate Finance Committee was deemed deficit neutral by the non-partisan Congressional Office. Humana, UniteHealth Group and WellPoint declined more than 5%.

[R]1:00 PM New York – Health insurance providers declined sharply after the latest proposal discussed in the Senate Finance Committee was deemed deficit neutral by the non-partisan Congressional Office. Humana, UniteHealth Group and WellPoint declined more than 5%.[/R]

Health insurers fell as the likelihood of healthcare reform increased.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare bill will save $81 billion and cost $829 billion over ten years, lower than the cost of Iraq war.

WellPoint, Inc led the decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 4.3% followed by losses in UnitedHealth Group Inc of 4.1%, in Aetna Inc of 4.0%.

The bill presented by the committee will be presented to the full senate for debate is expected to be deficit neutral as requested by the President.

During the summer of this year, the Republican Party members staged several protests at town hall meetings that painted the picture that the healthcare reform will lower the quality of care and increase the cost to the patients.

However, there is a growing perception among citizens that the healthcare reform is inevitable that will lower the cost of delivery of care. Hospitals and insurance companies are likely to face lower payments if the reforms are enacted.

The amendments added to the Senate Finance bill suggest that penalties to people who prefer not to be insured are likely to be lower than previously estimated.

Health insurer stocks also declined on the growing talks of imposing windfall profit tax on the companies as a part of reform.

The cost of Iraq and Afghanistan wars are likely to exceed $1 trillion by the end of next year which Democrat law makers cite frequently as a wasteful spending that props up military industrial complex in the U.S.