Companies to Take Note Of As Obamacare Launches Next Week

Health insurance marketplaces are scheduled to open in the entire nation for the small business owners and individuals October 1st. After October 1st there is a six month period before the government will fine the uninsured.
While all marketplaces are scheduled to go live October 1st, some states are having doubts on their ability to meet the deadline.
Joel Ario, a former HHS official, stated to Washington Post that “nobody is going to say we’re not starting on October 1, but in some situations, you may see a redefinition of what ‘start’ means.
Despite the possible delays, the launch is expected to proceed on schedule. As the plan starts to kick in for over the next six months, there are some companies that would likely benefit from the reform.
With the increased number of health insurance and drug coverage, pharmacy chains such as CVS CVS, Walgreens WAG, and Rite Aid RAD will get higher traffic of customers. In addition, CVS operates a small clinic called “MinuteClinic” across many of its locations, which will also see a rise in the number of customers.
Fitness clubs such as Life Time Fitness LTM will also see rise in traffic due to Obamacare. The Obamacare allows companies to charge more for insurance policy towards the overweight and unhealthy employees. In addition, higher amount of trips to the doctors is expected to raise the public awareness of health problems. As an icing on the cake, Obamacare even has provisions that will allow the reimbursement of the money spent on fitness clubs.
The ripple effect may also cause sports equipment producers such as Nike NKE to benefit while food chains considered unhealthy such as McDonalds MCD to face problems.