Health Care Funds Get Obama Bounce

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With a tight Congressional calendar and a full-court press by President Barack Obama, health care reform takes center stage this week. Lawmakers are trying to come up with a plan to fix a highly dysfunctional health insurance system.

Obama has been trying to generate support for a government-backed health plan that people would cover the uninsured and serve as an alternative to employer-sponsored coverage. This strategy aims to make covered services and costs easier to compare among various plans.

Whether or not a public option survives, Obama says reforms will include ways to contain health care prices that are growing faster than inflation and incomes. Those cost controls will create winners and losers.

For the week ending Thursday, Jun. 26, the average health and biotechnology fund we track rose 1.5%, excluding inverse funds that sell these stocks short.

The ProShares Ultra Health Care Fund (RXL Quote), up 3.6%, was the best-performing fund. The ProShares UltraShort Health Care Fund (RXD Quote) was the worst, down 4.1%. These exchange-traded funds are 200% leveraged to the Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Index but move in opposite directions.

Six of the top 10 health funds target biotechnology and drugmaker stocks. Topping this segment is the First Trust Amex Biotechnology Index Fund adding 3.1%. One holding, Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR Quote) jumped 16% on optimism about partnerships to treat rheumatoid arthritis and pneumonia. Second-tier names InterMune (ITMN Quote) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX Quote) rose 8.1% and 6.7%, respectively. Industry leaders Amgen (AMGN Quote) and Biogen Idec (BIIB Quote) slipped 2.1% and 3.8%.

Best Performing Healthcare Funds for the Week Ending Thursday Jun. 25 Fund (Ticker) Rating Fund Type Tot'l Return 1 Wk ProShares Ultra Health Care (RXL) D- ETF 3.58% First Trust AMEX Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT) C+ ETF 3.13% iShares Dow Jones US Pharmaceuticals Index Fund (IHE) C ETF 3.05% ProFunds Pharmaceuticals UltraSector ProFund (PHPIX) C- Open-End 3.04% SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF (XPH) C+ ETF 2.78% Fidelity Select Medical Equipment & Systems Portfolio (FSMEX) A- Open-End 2.77% ProFunds Health Care UltraSector ProFund (HCPIX) C- Open-End 2.70% SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) C ETF 2.60% Powershares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals Portfolio (PJP) C ETF 2.50% Source: Bloomberg & TheStreet.com Ratings

Pharmaceutical companies should gain if more people can afford prescription drugs. However, Amgen lagged the group because it could lose its exclusive patent on its anemia treatment, Epogen, under Obama's plan, which calls for cutting the biologic drug patent period to seven years.