HMO stocks slump on CBO health care reform score

Reuters reports that HMO stocks are slipping lower today, in the aftermath of the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill.

"Shares of WellPoint Inc fell more than 7 percent, while UnitedHealth Group Inc, Aetna Inc and Humana dropped more than 4.5 percent, bucking a positive overall market. ... The share moves continued the declines since mid-September for health insurance stocks, which have proved extremely sensitive to reform developments in Washington. 'We continue to think managed care stocks will remain in flux until the 'devils in the detail' are resolved in final legislation,' Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Borsch said in a research note" (Krauskopf, 10/8).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.