Insurer's Stock/Profits rise as public option prospects fade

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Odds are growing longer for the public health-insurance option that the White House has pushed as part of an overhaul of the U.S. health-care system, with President Barack Obama saying over the weekend that such an option doesn't represent the "entirety" of health-care reform.

"The public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health-care reform," Obama said on Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo. "This is just one sliver of it."

Bucking a bearish Monday trend in the broader stock market, shares of health-insurance companies including UnitedHealth Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!unh/quotes/nls/unh (UNH 29.09, +0.61, +2.14%) and Aetna Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!aet/quotes/nls/aet (AET 29.40, -0.23, -0.78%) rose after the comments by Obama as well as members of his administration over the weekend. Health insurers have fought a public plan.

Republicans, long opposed to a public plan, seized on comments made Sunday by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" program, Sebelius said a government-run health-insurance option is not "essential."

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/prospects-fade-for-public-health-insurance-option-2009-08-17