June 8th Weekly Market Update
The upcoming Supreme Court decision regarding premium subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare) may create a buying opportunity for the healthcare sector. We believe the odds favor the status quo (all subsidies legal regardless of the state), meaning that any selling pressure related to the risk of losing insured patients may present a buying opportunity. However, a court ruling in favor of the challenger (against the administration), which would likely be met with
even more selling pressure and remains a possibility, may create an even better entry point for the sector.
CONTEXT
Later this month, in the case of King v. Burwell, the Supreme Court will rule on whether ACA premium subsidies (via tax credits) are legal for individuals with Obamacare policies in states that chose to use federal health insurance exchanges rather than setting up their own state-run exchanges. When the law was written and subsequently passed in 2010, the hope in Washington was that all states would set up their own insurance exchanges for their citizens. Were this achieved, it would have eliminated the question of whether any subsidies that made insurance premiums more affordable were legal. The law is quite clear about the legality of premium subsidies in states with exchanges. However, the law is ambiguous about states that opted not to set up exchanges, which is the crux of this case.
For the full article: ACA RULING COULD MAKE HEALTHCARE SECTOR MORE AFFORDABLE