UnitedHealth Sniffles

UnitedHealth instead hopes to see that case, filed by a group of physicians, dismissed at a court hearing on Tuesday. But if the company fails, Borsch says, it faces a courtroom trial this year.

In the meantime, Borsch continues to steer his investors elsewhere.

"If investing in large-cap managed care, buy AET and sell UNH," he suggests. Goldman Sachs counts both UnitedHealth and Aetna as investment banking clients. "While both AET and UNH are exposed to sector risk ... we believe AET's focus on organic growth coupled with its strong resurgence among employers will help support upside to the stock or -- in a downside scenario for the sector -- at least provide sector-relative out-performance."