Shares of health-care companies moved higher ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
Investors have been hoping for a definitive result in the presidential race, helping to avoid a contested outcome, and clear control of the Senate and House by the same major party. That would lead to more clarity on additional stimulus packages and new legislation on health care and taxes.
The Affordable Care Act's open enrollment started Sunday as millions of Americans have lost or are losing job-based coverage during the coronavirus pandemic, casting a spotlight on health care in the final sprint of the presidential and congressional elections. This open-enrollment period may be the most unpredictable in the history of the 2010 health law. More people need ACA coverage because of job losses, but the law could be invalidated by the Supreme Court. A ruling could also end federal subsidies relied on by more than 80% of enrollees. Health-policy experts said those pressures complicate efforts to estimate enrollment, a metric that is closely watched by both the law's detractors and its proponents.
"If this were a normal year, we would expect to see enrollment quite stable with premiums not increasing and more insurers participating," said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health-care research organization. "But this is not a normal year. There's no model in any computer that can predict what will happen."
Meanwhile, European governments beset by an autumn wave of Covid-19 are turning to mass testing, in some cases screening swaths of their population at once, in a bid to contain a pandemic that has forced nations into further lockdowns.
Write to Amy Pessetto at amy.pessetto@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-02-20 1748ET
