Who's winning? Investors, lawyers, consultants are among those getting early boosts from the health law

Sep 6 2013

Also in the news, Bloomberg reports that some employers may change their minds about offering employees insurance when tax advantages go up next year.  

Bloomberg: Affordable Care Act Sees More Employers Embracing Credits: Taxes
Boutique accounting, medical and legal firms that resisted offering insurance to their employees under the new health-care law may change their minds when the tax advantages go up next year. Companies with 10 full-time employees or less, making an average wage of $25,000 or less, may get a 50 percent tax credit for the amount of their contribution to cover premiums in 2014, Bloomberg BNA reported. Nonprofit employers can get 35 percent, the Internal Revenue Service said in its proposed rules (Beyoud, 9/5).

Fox News Early Big Winners Of Obamacare: Investors, Lawyers, Consultants, Tech Experts
While polling data suggests many Americans remain anxious and skeptical about ObamaCare, the early big winners of the president's signature law include investors, lawyers, consultants and purveyors of new technology. Since March 23, 2010, when it was signed into law, the health care sector of stocks in the S&P 500 has increased in value by 50 percent. Gilead Sciences, a California-based drug maker with 5,000 workers, has seen its stock price explode by 157 percent in the last three and a half years (Ross, 9/05).

Meanwhile, for some immigrants, the health law's impact is not so clear cut:  

The Seattle Times: How Will Immigrants Fare Under Obamacare? It's Complicated
Likos Afkas is a native of the Federated States of Micronesia, part of a cluster of islands in the Pacific where nuclear testing by the U.S. government during the Cold War left behind high rates of cancer…Ultimately, how he and other immigrants fare under this massive health-care overhaul will depend on many factors: their income, immigration status, how long they've lived in this country and -; in the case of people like Afkas -; their country of origin (Turnbull, 9/4).