The S&P 500 Health Care index rose 120 percent between December 2011 and December 2014, but healthcare analysts see growth in the healthcare sector slowing in 2015 due to legislative changes that could occur now that Republicans have the majority in both the House and Senate, according to an Institutional Investor report.
Steven Helper, a senior vice president of equity research who covers the healthcare sector for FBR Capital Markets, a subsidiary of FBR & Co. in New York, told Institutional Investor he sees a slowdown in the healthcare market in 2015 due to a payment rate cuts to Medicare Advantage plans, "which have presented a delicate political balance," according to the report.
However, medical device companies are likely to do well under a Republican-led Congress, according to the report. That is because Republicans are likely to try to repeal the 2.3 percent tax on revenues from medical devices. The tax has been in effect since Jan. 1, 2013.
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