Healthcare Stocks Trending Alert: CVS Health (CVS), Aetna Inc (AET), Anthem (ANTM), CIGNA (CI)

Recently, small business owners took to the streets to protest government policies in France. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls then announced reforms to boost the economy. They include increasing the number of businesses operating on Sundays and opening up regulated sectors to competition. The result: thousands of opponents demonstrated in Paris, saying the measures go against the political beliefs of the country’s left-wing government.

Small business owners in the United States haven’t taken to the streets but they do have issues going into 2015 – including, most importantly, the possibility of lower taxes.

“Tax reform has been talked about. President Obama has signaled some support for tax relief for corporations and small businesses, and there seems to be bipartisan interest”, said Amanda Austin, vice president of public policy for the National Federation of Independent Business.

That’s because most US businesses are organized as sole proprietors, so they pay individual income taxes rather than the corporate tax.{1}

CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) closed lower -1.02% to $95.33, The CVS Health Research Institute recently released a first look at the comparative utilization of two new hepatitis C treatments in the weeks following their respective launches. The analysis shows an raise in the number of eligible hepatitis C patients being treated following the October launch of Harvoni® , the latest hepatitis C treatment. Uptake for Harvoni is around 2.5 times the rate of Sovaldi® prescribing during the weeks following Sovaldi's launch in December 2013. In addition, the data shows there has been minimal reduction in Sovaldi use following the launch of Harvoni, suggesting an expansion in the pool of patients being treated, rather than Harvoni being used as a substitute for Sovaldi.

Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) closed declined -0.30% to $88.56, The Aetna Foundation is calling on organizations to leverage technology to make an impact on health outcomes in vulnerable communities. The Foundation recently declared the Healthier World Innovation Challenge, a $4.5 million initiative designed to steer digital health innovation to get better chronic health outcomes in underserved communities. Six Challenge winners will not only receive up to $750,000 each over three consecutive years, but will also have support from the Aetna Foundation and partner resources to implement their innovation. The Challenge is part of a larger, three-year digital health commitment by the Aetna Foundation to help address public health concerns. With the addition of the Challenge, the Aetna Foundation’s commitment to digital health will now total $5.7 million between 2014 and 2016.

Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) closed higher 0.07% to $125.76, One of the best things seniors can do for their health this winter, won’t cost anything and doesn’t take long, according to Dr. Richard Frank, who serves as medical director of Medicare products for Anthem.

“I’m talking about getting a flu shot,” Frank said. “Shots are important to everyone, but particularly for seniors who typically account for 90 percent of deaths that occur during any particular flu season.”

CIGNA Corporation  (NYSE:CI) closed rose 0.01% to $102.92, As previously declared, Cigna Corporation (CI) will release its Fourth Quarter 2014 financial results on Thursday, February 5, 2015.

Fourth Quarter 2014 financial results will be released no later than 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time (ET). Management will review these results on a conference call start at 8:30 a.m. ET that same morning. The call-in numbers for the conference call are as follows: It is strongly suggested you dial in to the conference call by 8:15 a.m. ET on February 5th. The operator will periodically provide instructions regarding the call. A replay of the call will be available from 12:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 5th until 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 19, 2015.

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Source {1}: http://www.theguardian.com