View: Ask investors whether Obamacare is working

These included: prohibiting insurers from canceling coverage when people get sick; eliminating preexisting conditions and gender discrimination as reasons to decline coverage or raise rates; letting young adults remain on their parents’ plans until age 26; strengthening Medicare coverage for the elderly; expanding Medicaid coverage for the poor; creating health insurance exchanges; requiring large employers to provide coverage, and providing tax credits for small business. About 16.4 million people gained health coverage during the largest reduction in uninsured in four decades.

Few, if any, publicly-traded corporations acknowledge any threat to their performance because of the Affordable Care Act. Bloomberg News earlier this year examined the transcripts of chief executive officers and chief financial officers addressing analysts and shareholders specifically on the ACA and reported that Obamacare put “such a small dent in profits on U.S. companies that many refer to its impact as ‘not material’ or ‘not significant.’”

For investors, Obamacare is proving no worse than promising, as reflected in the 24-month returns of the companies that make up the Russell Health Care Index. Within that group, health care providers and services and biotechnology did best, up 50.4 percent and 33.3 percent respectively. Almost a dozen of these groups returned more than 19 percent and only health care technology was a loser, down 0.5 percent.

Among the 500 largest companies that make up the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the 55 health care firms produced a total return of 35 percent, beating their 124 comparable global rivals, which gained 28.8 percent. The companies in the health care providers and services area, such as UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), Anthem (NYSE:ANTM), Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) and Express Scripts Holding (Nasdaq:ESRX), lead the health care industry and outperform their global peers.

The emergence of U.S. health care as the world beater coincides with the advent of Obamacare. During the five years prior to October 2013, the industry was the fourth-best performing group of companies among the 10 in the Russell 3000. After Obamacare took effect, this industry became the best.

Markets represent the judgment of buyers and sellers of what’s valuable. By that yardstick, shareholders already have decided that Obamacare is a boon for the American economy. They’re also showing that health care for more Americans is proving to be a good investment.

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