By Alex Eule | Tuesday, April 16
Talking
Points. Every three
months, America's chief executives are forced to face investors and
analysts, and sometimes their comments get more attention than they
probably bargained for. Welcome to earnings season. The latest edition of
talking-point-gone-wrong came this morning from UnitedHealth Group. The
health insurer actually had strong earnings to discuss during its
conference call, but that all took a backseat once CEO David Wichmann decided
to address the brewing debate over Medicare for All:
The wholesale
disruption of American health care being discussed in some of these proposals
would surely jeopardize the relationship people have with their doctors,
destabilize the nation's health system, and limit the ability of clinicians to
practice medicine at their best. And the inherent cost burden would surely have
a severe impact on the economy and jobs, all without fundamentally increasing
access to care.
United Health's stock finished the day down 4%. Wichmann's commentary
weighed on rivals, as well; the health-care sector fell 2.1% on the day, even
as the broad market rose slightly.
It's going to be a long ride if investors remain this nervous about
new health-care regulation. After all, the 2020 election has barely begun and
health care is likely to be a major topic of every Democratic primary
debate -- there are 12 of them.
Andrew Bary has more on Barrons.com about how
the Medicare-for-All talk is roiling the stock market.
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