Biotechnology and health care-related exchange traded funds (ETFs) could be set to take off as both sectors are in a transition period and are gaining more support from the Obama administration.
President Barack Obama today met with the American Medical Association about his proposal for government-run health care, which would cut costs and heighten competition, reports Judy Keen for USA Today. But the AMA doesn’t support the plan and fears it could make the health care situation in this country even worse.
Obama’s plan calls for a health insurance exchange in which private plans compete with a public option. It would ideally drive down costs while expanding choices. The AMA says that if private insurers can’t compete with a government-run plan, there would be an explosion of costs that would have to be absorbed by taxpayers.
- PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare (PTH): down 4.7% year-to-date
Meanwhile, changes are afoot in the biotechnology industry, as well. The sector has been able to turn a profit only once over the past four decades. So why are 27 different states paying as much as $100,000 each to entice companies onto the exhibition floor of a biotech convention?