If Harris becomes president, "universal healthcare" will not pose a threat.

As a strong presidential candidate for the Democratic Party to succeed Joe Biden, Kamala Harris supported a single-payer healthcare system during her time as a senator, but this issue seems unlikely to become the focus of her newly launched campaign.

In 2017, as a newly elected senator from California, Harris co-sponsored the "Medicare for All" bill with Senator Bernie Sanders, which aimed to replace private insurance with a significantly expanded health insurance program.

Later, as a presidential candidate in 2019, Harris proposed her own version of "Medicare for All," which called for a more gradual transition than Sanders' plan.

The implementation of universal healthcare would have a significant impact on health insurance companies such as Cigna, UnitedHealth Group, and CVS Health.

With Harris's chances of becoming president rising sharply on July 21st, the stock prices of these companies fell slightly in the early morning of July 22nd but leveled off as the morning session approached.

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The S&P 500 Health Care Index fell by 0.3%, while the overall S&P 500 index rose by 0.6%.

Although Harris is deeply involved in the universal healthcare debate, which dominated the Democratic primary process in 2019 and 2020, the chances of this issue being passed this time are slim.

Instead, the significance of the shift from Biden to Harris for healthcare investors seems to be concentrated on some less significant issues.

This may give more attention to reproductive rights and perhaps continue Biden's focus on drug prices.

Four years ago, the debate over the details of the single-payer system proposal dominated Democratic politics, but the Biden administration has set it aside.

The government's current healthcare policy focuses on reducing drug prices.

Chris Meekins, an analyst at Raymond James, wrote in a report predicting Biden's withdrawal from the race that a position close to Harris's 2019 "Medicare for All" proposal is no longer politically viable.

"In our view, the Democrats do not have enough senators in the 2024 election to credibly implement the proposal," Meekins wrote.

"If Harris becomes president, 'universal healthcare' will not pose a threat."

Biden has indicated in recent weeks that he will refocus on drug pricing issues.

He co-wrote an op-ed with Sanders, calling on Novo Nordisk to "significantly reduce" the pricing of its weight loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic in the United States and advocating for the expansion of the Medicare drug pricing negotiation plan that Biden signed into effect in 2022.

Harris could continue these efforts.

Unlike the universal health insurance debate that exposed serious divisions within the Democratic Party four years ago, reforming drug pricing has widespread support and has always been at the forefront of the political agenda.

According to Meekins, Harris co-sponsored 13 bills on drug pricing during her time as a senator.

In 2019, as Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination amid a struggle between the left and the center of the Democratic Party, she tried to find a middle ground, with the focus of the struggle on proposals to reform the national health insurance system.

In a debate at the beginning of the year, she was open to completely eliminating the private insurance industry, a position held by Sanders, but then proposed a more moderate plan at the end of June.

Harris's plan proposed in June 2019 allowed all Americans to enroll in health insurance and expanded health insurance coverage to dental care and other services over a 10-year transition period.

The plan would provide space for private insurance companies to offer their own health insurance plans, similar to the Medicare Advantage plans currently available to seniors.

In December 2019, Harris dropped out of the 2020 race.

As Biden defeated Sanders in the Democratic presidential nomination contest in April 2020, the momentum for universal healthcare waned.

If Harris secures the Democratic nomination in the coming days, the possibility of universal healthcare policy becoming a political focus again seems slim.

However, if she faces challenges within the party, everything could be up in the air again, potentially reigniting the issue.

Four years ago, this issue caused controversy within the Democratic Party, and there may still be divisions.