Major health insurance stocks largely lagged behind a broader market advance Wednesday after Congress reached a last-minute deal to keep the U.S. economy from hitting a so-called "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and deep spending cuts.
A bill that cleared Congress late Tuesday averted the tax hikes and delayed the spending cuts for a couple months. Analysts saw the agreement as a mixed bag for health insurers.
Bernstein Research analyst Ana Gupte called it a "modest positive" for the sector. Gupte said in a research note the delay in spending cuts means insurers won't have to deal with a planned, across-the-board spending cut for Medicare at least through February. The agreement also averts a steep payment cut for doctors.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
