Healthcare stocks and sector-related ETFs strengthened Wednesday as a divided midterm election result would obstruct any progress in repealing the Affordable Care Act, or so-called Obamacare.
Among the top performing ETFs of Wednesday, the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (NYSEArca: IHF) increased 3.8% and First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEArca: FXH) advanced 3.6%.
With the Democrats taking over the House of Representatives and Republicans widening their majority lead in the Senate, Congress won’t be able to take another stab at overturning the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which extended health insurance cover to millions of previously uninsured Americans.
Furthermore, Voters in Idaho, Utah and Nebraska voted to expand Medicaid while several of the winning gubernatorial candidates also favor expanding Medicaid benefits, ABC News reports.
Looking ahead, U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that healthcare would be among the top agendas for 2019, Reuters reports.