Medicare for All Odds Pegged Near ‘Zero’ at Cantor on High Cost
Medicare for All Odds Pegged Near ‘Zero’ at Cantor on High Cost
(Bloomberg) -- The latest report to grapple with how to finance a $30 trillion “Medicare for All” plan over the next decade further invigorated one of managed care’s biggest bulls, who sees the chances of the idea becoming a reality as “close to zero.”
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Steven Halper -- who rates 6 out of 7 health-insurer stocks he covers at the equivalent of buy -- said a recent report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget think tank could force candidates to “soften their respective views on the issue.”
Halper reminded clients in a note that Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren hasn’t disclosed plans on the funding of her push to implement universal health coverage, while Bernie Sanders says that taxes will rise to bolster his plan. Other 2020 candidates like Joe Biden have taken a “more centrist” view with support of the Affordable Care Act, he wrote.
After a string of impressive earnings reports and worries related to Medicare for All have quieted, the S&P Supercomposite Managed Health Care Index has climbed to its highest since mid-August. The group rose as much as 2.4% Tuesday, led by gains in Anthem Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. The basket of 8 stocks still remains down more than 6% from a July peak, during a span when the S&P 500 advanced 1%.
Halper said that while the budget watchdog group’s findings analyzed different vehicles for the government to finance universal care, “all of them are politically unpopular or not realistic.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Bailey Lipschultz in New York at blipschultz@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Jeremy R. Cooke
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