Today's charts: Hospital stocks drop as House health care vote approaches

Seana Smith
·Host

Yahoo Finance is tracking the health care sector in intraday trading on Thursday ahead of the House’s vote on a new health care bill that will repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Thursday’s vote comes after seven years of campaign promises from the GOP and follows a botched attempt to get a bill passed in March, when GOP leaders were forced to pull the bill from the floor due to lack of support.

House Republicans think they have now secured enough votes to get the new legislation passed. If it is approved, it will be the GOP’s first step to making major changes to the current health care system. Thursday morning, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to attack Obamacare, tweeting that it’s in a “death spiral.” His comments follow Aetna’s announcement on Wednesday that it will no longer offer Obamacare plans in Virginia.

The Spider Health Care ETF (XLV), which has insurance stocks Aetna (AET) and United Health (UNH) in its holdings, is trading half a percent higher as of 11:30 a.m. ET. But it’s a different story for many hospital stocks. Community Health Systems (CYH), Universal Health Systems (UHS), and LifePoint Health (LPNT) are all under pressure. This is because the ACA is usually beneficial to hospitals since it expands insurance coverage. Approximately 20 million Americans have gained insurance since the law was passed in 2010.

For more on Thursday’s big stock movers and the latest on the health care vote, check out the Final Round, live at 4 p.m. ET, right here on Yahoo Finance.