Jeff Bezos and his two friends just spooked health care stocks
Shares of leading insurers and drug stores tanked after Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced they would enter the insurance business.
Top insurer UnitedHealth (UNH) fell 3%, helping drive a more than 300-point drop in the Dow. Two other big insurers, Cigna (CI) and Anthem (ANTM), dropped more than 5%. Aetna (AET) and Humana (HUM) were each down about 3%.
Drug store giants CVS (CVS) and Walgreens (WBA) both declined more than 4%. Pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts (ESRX) plummeted nearly 7%.
The clear worry: The alliance of Buffett, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon is only the beginning of big changes for the insurance business.
“This is the start of a restructuring of the health care industry. This could be the catalyst for something bigger,” said Chuck Self, chief investment officer with iSectors. “It’s part of the Amazon-ization of the nation, but it’s now clearly more than just Amazon.”
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