Health Care Investors Get What They Wanted: A Brown Win In Massachusetts

As health care investors were expecting yesterday, Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts last night, which removes the Democrat's key 60th vote and puts the health care reform bill at risk.

The vote is also being considered a referendum on President Obama. Voters in Massachusetts, considered Democrat-leaning, showed their disappointment with Obama's policies and it was a shot across the bow to Democrats who are coming up for election.

Exit poll data from Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates showed that Brown's opposition to congressional health care legislation was the most important issue to his win. 52 percent of voters opposed the federal health care reform measure.

Even after rallying yesterday, health care stocks are indicated to open higher again today.

Related Stocks:

Manged care stocks: like Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), United Health Group (NYSE: UNH), CIGNA Corp. (NYSE: CI), Coventry (NYSE: CVH), WellCare (NYSE: WCG), HealthNet (NYSE: HNT) and Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET).

Pharmaceutical stocks: Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY).

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