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December 10, 2009

Dems’ Rejection of Public Option Boosts Insurers’ Stocks
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Back in the United States, stock prices in the nation’s largest
insurance companies are on the rise following news of a Senate plan to
abandon the public insurance option. The Standard & Poor’s Managed
Health Care index rose 1.6 percent Wednesday, compared to a 0.6 percent
drop for the broader index of 500 companies. The gains followed Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement that Democrats won’t propose a
government-funded health plan to compete with private insurers. Instead,
Democrats will back a measure in which the federal Office of Personnel
Management would hire the insurance companies to run government-backed
health plans. One day after Reid’s announcement, a new poll showed a
majority of Americans continue to support the public option rejected by
Democrats. Fifty-nine percent want a government-funded public option
included in a healthcare reform bill, a 30-point margin over the
percentage of Americans opposed.



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