By David Wainer

The broader stock market is suffering losses after President Trump's tariff announcement over the weekend. But one group was insulated by separate comments made by Trump on Friday.

Health insurers with a focus on Medicaid saw gains Monday after Donald Trump signaled he might protect the program, despite Republican efforts to pursue spending cuts.

When asked about potential budget reductions on Friday, Trump said the administration would "love and cherish" Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, according to Politico. His mention of Medicaid was notable, as he has in the past omitted it when discussing the programs his administration wouldn't touch.

Shares of Medicaid-focused insurers Molina Healthcare, Elevance Health, and Centene each rose more than 1.5% in response.

With the GOP in control of Congress and the White House, expectations have grown that government insurance programs like Affordable Care Act exchanges and Medicaid will be cut by Republicans looking for ways to pay for tax cuts.

Concerns over Medicaid's future intensified last week when the Trump administration implemented a freeze on grants and federal aid. While the freeze explicitly exempted Medicare and Social Security, it made no mention of Medicaid and some blamed that for a temporary outage to the program.

But Trump's remarks on Friday suggest a potential buffer for Medicaid.

"We're not going to do anything with that unless we can find some abuse or waste," Trump said. "The people won't be affected. It will only be more effective and better."

This analysis comes from the Journal's Heard on the Street team. Subscribe to their free daily afternoon newsletter here.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2025 12:56 ET (17:56 GMT)

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