Even better for the bulls, as we go into 2010 we will have seen the high-water mark of what Wall Street views as radicalism in Congress. That means you can see earnings per share increase and multiples expand for Humana (HUM), WellPoint (WLP), Aetna (AET) and Cigna (CI).

He said he'd even short stocks such as WellPoint (WLP), Humana (HUM) and UnitedHealth (UNH), even though the long-term picture might be sound. He said people overreact when they hear the term "public option" and begin to short these stocks, and "Washington doesn't care what happens to stocks." In the end, Cramer said, it won't hurt the stocks, "but who wants to be long?"

The public option is back on board, thanks to Harry Reid, so the notion that health care is finished and that Washington can focus on creating jobs is now a total pipe dream. More pain for UnitedHealth Group (UNH), WellPoint (WLP) and Humana (HUM).

Borsch is wary of Humana because it gets about 70% of its profits from Medicare Advantage. Humana carries the lowest valuation in the group for this very reason. Borsch likes Cigna, which admittedly has a grab-bag of assets, because of its minimal exposure to at-risk insurance programs and its low valuation.

Two weeks ago, the charts of HMOs such as UnitedHealth (UNH), WellPoint (WLP) and Humana (HUM) were "fine and dandy," but in the last 10 days, Cramer said, they "have all broken down."

for now... when the public option goes away and for sept. oct.

I continue to believe that Wellpoint (WLP), UnitedHealth (UNH), Cigna (CI), Aetna (AET) and Humana (HUM) can be bought off this Senate shift.

Hold - Price 28.56 on July 14
by Standard & Poor's Equity Research

Downgraded from Buy. The Defense Department [will award] UnitedHealth the managed-care contract for Tricare in the South as of April 1, 2010. We find the move unexpected, as HUM [has] participated in Tricare since '96. HUM plans to evaluate its options and could protest the award...[but we] think it will seek ways to compensate for [that] $3.73 billion contract. [With new assumptions, we're cutting] our '10 EPS estimate by 60 cents, to $5.25, and our target price by $3, to $32. Market cap: $4.84 billion.

Obama Pushes for Health Overhaul: President Obama is pushing for a broad overhaul of U.S. healthcare on a day in which the White House raised its forecast for the U.S. budget deficit for this year.
Click here to watch the video.

Buy - Price 29.25 on April 28
by Hilliard Lyons

Humana's 1Q09 earnings rebounded strongly from a depressed level in the previous year [to] EPS of $1.22, versus 47 cents in 1Q08, and four cents ahead of expectations... .Medicare Advantage membership rose 16% from a year ago, to 1.47 million. HUM added 33,000 members in 1Q and another 13,600 in April, for 46,600 total, close to the 2009 target of 50,000. Revenue for the quarter rose 11%, to $7.71 billion, from $6.96 billion last year. We feel HUM has a valuable franchise in its Medicare business. The current political environment may not be as hospitable to private-sector plans; there could be pressure on reimbursement. We believe the stock reflects the situation. We have lowered our target to what we feel is a more reasonable 45. Market cap: $4.4 billion.

NO PERFORMING AS IT SHOULD

Weak economy is killing this one.