Founder Jacob Gottlieb expects Barack Obama's healthcare initiatives to provide plenty of profits for savvy investors like himself
By Irwin Speizer
When Barack Obama talks healthcare reform, Jacob Gottlieb listens. Intently. Gottlieb manages Visium Asset Management, a healthcare sector equity hedge fund firm, and he can hear the ka-ching of cash dropping into his coffers as Washington tries to extend health coverage to as many as 50 million additional Americans.
Obama's aim of expanding coverage while simultaneously reining in healthcare price increases could create winners and losers among providers of everything from pharmaceuticals to medical devices, from hospitals to health maintenance organizations (HMOs). To take advantage of the coming wave of change, Gottlieb has set up what he calls a swat team of analysts and traders within his firm who pore over every new twist looking for investment opportunities - hopefully ones others have missed.
"We are speaking with consultants, lobbyists,...