Health insurance stocks drop on new ‘Medicare for All’ bill, drug hearings

Healthcare stock declines are being led by losses in the health insurance sector after Democrats introduced a new “Medicare for All” bill that would replace private health plans with a government option, according to Bloomberg.

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The S&P 500 Managed Health Care Index fell as much as 4.9 percent, the index’s biggest percent decrease since Dec. 6. In addition to Medicare for All efforts, Bloomberg said some of the declines could be linked to the Senate’s drug price hearing Feb. 26, during which pharmaceutical companies pushed some of the blame for drug pricing issues on drug-plan middlemen.

UnitedHealth Group and Cigna were down about 4 percent. CVS Health, which owns Aetna, fell 2 percent. Humana and WellCare Health Plans also dipped.

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