Here's a Surprise: Industry Says Don't Repeal Health-Care Law

Health-care executives of all kinds, from insurers to drugmakers, apparently don't want to see so-called "Obamacare" repealed. They want to move on.

Hard to believe?

No, said company execs attending the Reuters Health Summit in New York this week. They know there's still work to be done tweaking the law -- on health information technology and rising costs -- but after two years they're sick and tired of the debate, they've come to grips with the new law and they just want to get on with realigning their businesses. No more stopping and starting.

A Reuters story on the meeting includes a comment from GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Chief Strategy Officer David Redfern. He said the law created "a stable, predictable environment, however painful it has been in the short term."

Reuters claims Redfern was echoing other speakers when he said, "When you are running a business, the hardest thing is changing policy and a changing environment because it is very difficult to plan, predict and ultimately invest in that sort of scenario."

Said the Department of Health and Human Services' Liz Fowler, who also attended, "The (health care) system is broken now ... We may tweak (the law), but overall it is a very positive direction forward."

Reuters also reports that since the beginning of 2009, the Morgan Stanley Health Care Payor index "has risen 75 percent, outperforming a roughly 35 percent rise for the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index."