- Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday surprise helped healthcare stocks lead the market recovery on Wednesday.
- Biden crushed Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the leading proponents of “Medicare For All.”
- Dow stock UnitedHealth Group headlined the surge.
Healthcare stocks are heaving a sigh of relief on Wednesday after Joe Biden pulled off a massive upset on Super Tuesday in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Out of the 14 Super Tuesday states, the former vice president won ten. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders – who previously led the delegate count – only won four.
Sanders has been campaigning on a platform that would destroy private health insurance.
So it’s not surprising that healthcare stocks are surging in response to Medicare For All’s apparent failure at the ballot box.
Dow Jones giant UnitedHealth headlines stock market recovery
Core Dow Jones stock UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) surged more than 12% on Wednesday morning, erasing a large chunk of the losses it suffered during last week’s coronavirus-linked stock market rout.
Anthem stock (NYSE:ANTM) rose even higher, bouncing more than 13% after Medicare For All proponents suffered a drubbing on Super Tuesday.
And they weren’t the only healthcare stocks ratcheting higher. Here are some of the other top performers:
- Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) bounced 14%
- Cigna (NYSE:CI) climbed 9%.
- Humana (NYSE:HUM) rose 12%.
- HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) rallied 7%.
Healthcare stocks in early ‘Joementum’
The healthcare stock price spike is the direct result of the Democratic party’s moderate wing wresting control back from the progressives.
Bernie Sanders – who up until last Saturday looked like he would win the nomination going away – has been a thorn in the flesh for health stocks – if not the entire stock market.
With his electoral prospects suddenly in disarray, private health insurance companies can rest a bit easier.
After all, Sanders desired to kill private insurers and replace them with Medicare For All – a government-run medical system.
In his own words:
We say to the private health insurance companies: whether you like it or not, the United States will join every other major country on earth and guarantee healthcare to all people as a right.
Though she hasn’t performed well in the early primary states, Elizabeth Warren’s campaign also presented a threat to healthcare stocks.
That’s because she was quick to hop on the Medicare For All bandwagon… back when it looked like that’s what voters wanted.
Joe Biden wants gradual progress – not revolution
Though the race is far from over, Joe Biden’s overwhelming victory on Super Tuesday greatly reduces the chances of either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren getting the Democratic nomination.
On his part, Biden is proposing an improvement – not a revolution – on the existing health care system.
His plan rests on increasing access to affordable health insurance, broadening choices, and expanding coverage to low-income earners.
That may sound unpalatable to fiscal conservatives, but healthcare firms prefer that to what Sanders and Warren are proposing. At least if today’s stock price movements are anything to go by.
This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth.
