Managed-Care Stocks Off, Hospitals Up, On Health Bill Score
09 10월 2009 - 4:10AM
Dow Jones News
Managed-care stocks tumbled and hospital shares climbed Thursday
as an analysis of the Senate Finance Committee's overhaul of the
health-care bill increased chances that the measure, which one
analyst called "onerous" for health insurers, will advance.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office late Wednesday
predicted the latest version of the bill would cost $829 billion
over 10 years, expand health insurance coverage to most Americans
and reduce the federal deficit. The Senate Finance Committee plans
to vote on the bill early next week.
Wall Street analysts were skeptical about some of the CBO's
assumptions, and a health insurance trade group, the Blue Cross and
Blue Shield Association, said the scorecard understated the bill's
"significant weakening" of a proposed mandate that every individual
become insured.
WellPoint Inc. (WLP), the largest managed-care company by
membership, recently traded down 7%, or $3.39, to $44.27.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), the largest by revenue, Aetna Inc.
(AET) and Humana Inc. (HUM) were down more than 5%, and Cigna Corp.
(CI) was off by 4%.
Hospital operators, expected to receive a boost from expansion
of health coverage to more patients, saw stocks rise. Tenet
Healthcare Corp. (THC) shares recently traded up 5%, or 29 cents,
at $5.96, while Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS), Health
Management Associates Inc. (HMA) and LifePoint Hospitals Inc.
(LPNT) climbed in the 3% to 4% range. Community Health Systems Inc.
(CYH) climbed 2.6%.
The CBO score increases the probability that the bill could pass
the Senate with a filibuster-proof 60 votes, according to Wells
Fargo hospital analyst Gary Lieberman, who said the measure should
increase the percentage of insured individuals from 83% today to
94% in 2015.
Managed-care analysts disagreed with several aspects of the CBO
assessment and didn't like the look of the bill for health
insurers.
"We continue to view the ... bill as quite onerous for managed
care," Deutsche Bank's Scott Fidel said.
Analysts noted that the CBO assumed Medicare physician fees will
be cut by 25% next year, which they called unlikely.
"The CBO score matters more than whether the score itself is
realistic," Wells Fargo analyst managed-care analyst Matt Perry
said."We expect Republicans to attack the credibility of the score
along these lines, but we're skeptical that they'll gain much
traction."
The bill, assuming it passes, will have to be merged with a
measure from another Senate panel and reconciled with House
legislation.
The CBO doesn't seem to see a risk of significant adverse
selection - in which riskier or sicker people seek coverage - from
weakened provisions mandating individual coverage, Goldman Sachs
analyst Matthew Borsch said. "However, the CBO analysis does
nothing to allay our own concern over the adverse selection risk as
it may impact managed-care companies in the individual and
small-group insurance business."
Borsch said Congress could give final approval to health-care
overhaul legislation by mid-December.
The BCBSA, meanwhile, said amendments made to the bill in the
Senate Finance Committee "eviscerated the individual mandate. ...
This is likely to result in millions of people foregoing coverage.
A weak mandate, as included in the amended Senate Finance Committee
bill, would encourage people to wait until they are sick to
purchase coverage. This will drive up premiums for everyone."
The bill doesn't include a provision for a public health plan to
compete with private insurers, a proposal that the health insurance
industry has been fighting.
-By Dinah Wisenberg Brin, Dow Jones Newswires; 215-656-8285;
dinah.brin@dowjones.com