Top U.S. insurers suffered losses on Monday on Wall Street after a federal judge ruled Friday afternoon that Obamacare is unconstitutional.
Anthem’s stock closed down 3.23 percent to $266.69 per share in trading in New York. UnitedHealth Group was down 2.62 percent to $258.07, while Centene’s stock dropped 4.79 percent to $121.42.
Insurers have been performing better in the markets created under the health law after years of struggling. Revenue at Centene, for example, rose 36 percent to $16 billion in the third quarter. The insurer, which has significant operations in the federal insurance business, plans to expand to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee next year.
[Trump: Congress can make healthcare ‘great’ after judge struck down Obamacare]
At Molina Healthcare Inc., which plans to enter Utah and Wisconsin in 2019 after not offering plans in the states in 2018, net income rose to $197 million in the third quarter after losses a year earlier. Molina’s stock closed on Monday down 8.90 percent to $120 per share.
The future of former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement is in doubt, however, after U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas ruled the law unconstitutional after the individual mandate was repealed as part of the GOP-led tax law.
The Obamacare exchanges will remain operational while the case goes through appeal. Open enrollment for 2018, during which individuals were able to sign up for insurance on Obamacare for the next year, ended on Saturday. Participation this year had been lagging behind prior years.
Analysts at J.P. Morgan Securities said the court’s decision could accelerate discussions around so-called “Medicare for All” proposals, a policy idea supported by a growing number of potential Democratic candidates for president in 2020.
“In general, the various iterations of such policy proposals would be deemed negative for providers, negative for commercial health insurance and possibly neutral-to-positive for Medicare Advantage and Medicaid insurance,” analyst Greg Taylor wrote in a note to clients.
