Major health insurance stocks largely lagged behind a broader market advance Wednesday after Congress reached a last-minute deal to keep the U.S. economy from hitting a so-called "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and deep spending cuts.
A bill that cleared Congress late Tuesday averted the tax hikes and delayed the spending cuts for a couple months. Analysts saw the agreement as a mixed bag for health insurers.
Bernstein Research analyst Ana Gupte called it a "modest positive" for the sector. Gupte said in a research note the delay in spending cuts means insurers won't have to deal with a planned, across-the-board spending cut for Medicare at least through February. The agreement also averts a steep payment cut for doctors.
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