If you’re wondering what all those health insurance lobbying dollars funneling into Washington were really buying, check out this article.
Shares of U.S. health insurers rose broadly on Tuesday on hopes a health reform bill would not include a government-run option, which has drawn strong opposition from insurers who fear it would destroy the private marketplace.
The S&P Managed Health Care index of large U.S. health insurers closed 6.5 percent higher.
Aetna rose 12.6 percent, Coventry was up 12.7 percent and Cigna was 7.7 percent higher, all on the New York Stock Exchange. Centene rose 7.9 percent.
Via Firedoglake. That was less than 24 hours after the Associated Press broke the long-expected news that the Senate Finance Committee would not endorse a government-run health insurance option. And it may be evidence that the market doesn’t regard co-operatives as particularly dangerous competitors to major insurers.
