Health Care Shares Drift As ACA Repeal Floated Again - Health Care Roundup

Shares of health-care companies was flat as a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act again looked like an imminent possibility. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to hold a vote next week on the latest GOP effort to unwind the 2010 health-care reform bill, even as Republicans scramble to secure the requisite number of votes. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she remained undecided after meeting with the bill's authors. Analysts at brokerage Morgan Stanley said the votes of several other senators, including Rand Paul, who has publicly opposed the bill, and John McCain, remain key variables. Should the bill pass, the Morgan Stanley analysts said, insurers with exposure to Medicaid would see the most changes to their business as federal funding for the program would be gradually cut. Among major publicly traded insurers, Aetna and Molina Healthcare had some of "the highest percentage of plans in states with the highest [potential] cuts," said the Morgan Stanley analysts. Pfizer filed suit against fellow drug giant Johnson & Johnson, alleging J&J has thwarted competition to its arthritis drug Remicade by effectively preventing insurers and health-care providers from offering Pfizer's lower-priced copy.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2017 16:22 ET (20:22 GMT)