Hospital Stocks Rise on Supreme Court Decision

In a surprise decision, which saw Chief Justice John Roberts side with the liberal contingency on the Supreme Court, the vast majority of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare) has been upheld -- including the individual mandate. The ruling has caused large moves in a number of subsectors in the health care industry. Several circuit breakers have been tripped in hospital stocks in particular, which have soared on the decision. The Court's ruling will benefit hospitals because far fewer patients will be uninsured, reducing the number of patients who receive treatment and do not pay. Among the winners are Tenet Healthcare THC, which was up around 6% late Thursday morning to $5.27 and Community Health Systems CYH, which jumped almost 7% to $27.20. Other hospital names that moved higher include Health Management Associates HMA, HCA Holdings HCA and LifePoint Hospitals LPNT. An analyst on CNBC also said that Universal Health Services UHS will be a beneficiary of the ruling. That stock was up a little better than 3% to $40.51. Managed care and Medicaid stocks also reacted favorably to the ruling. Amerigroup AGP was up almost 6%, Centene CNC added nearly 7%, and Molina Healthcare MOH was up 8%. Another name that surged was WellCare Health Plans WCG, up more than 8% to $53.72. Commercial managed care stocks fell in the wake of the surprise decision. WellPoint WLP was halted at one point, and it was last trading down about 7%. Aetna AET shares are traded lower, along with Coventry Health CVH and UnitedHealth Group UNH. Managed care and Medicaid stocks such as Humana HUM and Universal American Corp. UAM were mixed. Humana shares had lost 3% to just over $77.00, while Universal American was up slightly on the news.