Re: Young Folk Portfolio ... Position change
Today I sold the position in ELV and I replaced it with IHI a medical device ETF. Since I am trying to limit the number of holdings this portfolio has, there are certain sectors I am willing to get my exposure through with an ETF. Technology with SMH and Healthcare with IHI. This way I can have broad coverage while keeping the number of positions low.
The ELV position was in a taxable account but the capital gains were just 2% so I wasn't concerned there. That sale generated a little over $9,400 and with that I bought the following:
IHI 181 shares @ $52.01
The reasoning for making this move is that our government continues to pressure drug companies and health insurers to lower costs and not be as shareowner friendly. This was reported today.
U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have sent "strongly worded" letters to seven leading Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers this week for putting "enormous profits over care for seniors" while protesting over proposed rate cuts to the program.
"We write today regarding the outsize profits your company has earned in the Medicare Advantage program, the extraordinary salaries paid to you and other executives, and the billions your company has spent on dividends and buybacks," the Senators wrote.
The letters are addressed to the Chief Executives of Humana ( HUM), Centene ( CNC), UnitedHealthcare (NYSE: UNH), CVS Health ( CVS), Molina ( MOH), Elevance Health ( ELV), and Cigna ( CI), which serve 70% of the MA market.
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Dividends and buybacks? Yeah, I don't know where this will lead over the long-term so I decided to simply go with an ETF in order to spread the risks confronting healthcare today and possibly in the future. |
