Health care company shares drop sharply on entry by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan
Shares of companies across the health care industry, from health insurers to distributors, pharmacy-benefit managers and drugmakers, dropped in premarket trade on Tuesday after Amazon , Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase announced plans for a new company to improve their employees’ health care. The news hit pharmacy-benefit managers, pharmacy chains and drug distributors among the hardest, with CVS Health Corp. shares dropping 7.6%, Walgreens Boots Alliance shares dropping 5.7%, Express Scripts Holding Company dropping 4.8% and Cardinal Health Inc. shares dropping 4.3%. Several health insurers’ shares also fell significantly, including UnitedHealth Group , which dropped 7.2%, Anthem Inc. , which dropped 7%, as well as Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. . The moves reflect investor concerns that the Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan initiative could shake up the status quo, especially given the three companies’ large size and influential nature, and the potential interest of other employers in joining them. U.S. health care costs continue to rise year over year despite efforts to curb them, and many experts believe the fault lies with too-high prices. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF declined 1% in premarket trade, as did the Health Care Select Sector SPDR . Shares of the ETFs have surged 15.5% and 12.3% respectively over the last three months, compared with a 10.9% increase in the S&P 500 and a 13.2% rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average .
Source : MTV
