Vanguard Health Care Fund Selling Update

The updated portfolio of the Vanguard Health Care Fund lists 92 stocks, four of them new, a total value at $29.45 billion, and a quarter-over-quarter turnover of 4%.

The portfolio is weighted with two sectors: health care at 91.5% and consumer defensive at 2.9%. Vanguard Health Care Fund has averaged a return of 24.96% over 12 months and 9.5% over 10 years, according to the GuruFocus Score Board of Gurus.

Incorporated in 1996, United Therapeutics Corporation is a biotechnology company, focused on the development and commercialization of products to address the medical needs of patients with chronic and life-threatening conditions. Read more.

UnitedHealth Third-Quarter Profit Matches Estimates

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), the biggest U.S. health insurer, reported third-quarter sales below analysts’ expectations while declining to raise its profit projections, driving shares down the most in two years.

Net income rose less than 1 percent to $1.57 billion from a year earlier and the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based insurer reported per-share earnings of $1.53, matching the average of 18 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue climbed 12 percent to $30.6 billion, UnitedHealth said in a statement today. Analysts had estimated $30.9 billion, on average.

Enlarge image UnitedHealth Slips
UnitedHealth exceeded analyst expectations in all but one quarter over the last four years, helped by rising enrollment and medical costs that have remained low since the recession ended in 2009. read more.

Health Insurance Exchanges: A Change for the Better?

For the average American, adequate healthcare was becoming a distant dream as rising costs made it increasingly difficult to acquire sufficient insurance coverage.

But that was before President Obama introduced the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also called Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, to address the problem and expand healthcare coverage to previously uninsured Americans. Under the Act, health insurance exchanges will be set up in each state from January 1, 2014, although applications for insurance coverage are already being accepted as of October 1, 2013.

The system of health insurance exchanges, now collectively known as the health insurance marketplace, has created an online portal where consumers can shop for subsidized health insurance plans. On these exchanges, consumers will be able to compare a number of health insurance plans by various insurers, and then purchase a plan that best fits their needs. Read more.