Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Health insurers UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc. may be winners in the Barack Obama administration. Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. may not be.

The president-elect's pledge to spend on roads and bridges probably will help Caterpillar Inc., and delivering on his promise to ``fast track'' money to automakers would come none too soon for General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co.

Delta Air Lines Co. and other airlines may face higher labor costs, and new regulations may rein in Internet service providers such as Comcast Corp. A drop in oil prices may let Exxon Mobil Corp. escape a windfall profits tax, at least in the early months of Obama's presidency.

The Democratic president-elect will create corporate winners and losers as he tries to carry out his promise to produce jobs, expand health-care coverage, and increase the use of alternative energy, all while cutting taxes.

His dreams may collide with the reality of a federal government operating under a record budget deficit and an economic crisis that has drawn more cries for federal aid beyond the $700 billion bailout already approved by Congress.

Here's a look at how selected industries may be shaped by the historic presidency of the 47-year-old Obama, the first African-American to hold the country's highest job.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and U.S. auto-parts makers will tell the Obama administration that the industry needs help from Washington, and fast.

Automakers

``Time is critical when it comes to availability of capital for this industry,'' said Dave McCurdy, chief executive officer of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents GM, Ford, Toyota Motor Corp. and eight other automakers.

The new president will face intensified calls for an immediate disbursement of $25 billion in low-interest loans signed into law by President George W. Bush Sept. 30. While the money is supposed to be for the development of fuel-efficient vehicles, the industry argues it should be freed up to meet current capital needs.

``That $25 billion is not hitting the street yet, and that's of major import to some of the companies right now,'' McCurdy said.

Obama said in a speech Oct. 13 that funding for automakers should be on the ``fast track,'' and the government should provide ``more as needed.''

Automakers and lawmakers are seeking aid amid decade-low auto sales in the U.S. this year and tight credit markets that caused $28.6 billion in first-half losses in 2008 at GM, Ford and Chrysler LLC, owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP. GM said Nov. 3 its October sales plunged 45 percent in what it called the industry's worst month since 1945.

Federal Aid

Michigan lawmakers including Representative Joseph Knollenberg started a campaign in October for aid to the auto industry through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which authorizes the Treasury to spend as much as $700 billion to provide liquidity to the credit markets.

On Oct. 30, six governors from states including Michigan and Ohio sent a similar letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Last week, GM CEO Rick Wagoner personally lobbied for federal aid in Washington, people close to the discussions said.

Fuel-emissions standards in the U.S. and globally also will be an issue for automakers and the Obama administration, McCurdy said.

Obama said during his campaign he wanted to put at least 1 million so-called plug-in hybrid vehicles that would get as much as 150 miles to a gallon of gasoline on the road by 2015. He also said he would give consumers a $7,000 tax credit if they buy the vehicles.

Energy, Environment

Obama planned a tax rebate to American families of $1,000 to help pay for energy bills. The funding source, a windfall- profits tax on oil companies, may have dried up.

The plan is to impose the tax on oil companies when crude prices exceed $80 a barrel. Obama campaign adviser Jason Furman said Oct. 22 he's now assuming zero revenue from that tax because oil tumbled from a record above $147 a barrel in July to less than $70 this month.

Lawmakers will want to know more about Obama's goals of green energy and climate legislation, New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman said.

``I'm not sure of the details,'' he said in an interview on Obama's energy plans. ``I don't know that those have all been spelled out.''

Obama seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming by 80 percent by 2050. He wants to spend $150 billion over 10 years to create jobs in solar, wind and clean energy and in the auto industry by making plug-in hybrid cars.

Nuclear Waste

The president-elect has expressed concerns about nuclear waste, said Michael Morris, chief executive officer at Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power Co. Obama ran ads criticizing Republican candidate John McCain's support for plans to send waste to the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada.

``I'm a little worried about his position on nuclear power,'' Morris said.

Also unclear is whether Obama will block oil and natural- gas drilling in new offshore areas. Obama said Aug. 1 he would be willing to compromise on offshore drilling, which he had opposed, if it was necessary to win approval for funding alternative-energy investments and fuel-efficient cars.

``That was total lip service,'' said Kevin Book, an analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. in Arlington, Virginia. ``If Congress doesn't block drilling in its appropriations work in March, Obama is very likely to re-withdraw the areas that Bush put back in bounds.''

Roads and Bridges

Obama may put spending on roads and bridges near the top of his economic agenda.

``He's identified infrastructure as one of the ways to strengthen the American economy,'' Janet Kavinoky, transportation infrastructure director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview.

``We'll create 2 million jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, schools and bridges,'' Obama said in an Oct. 13 speech in Toledo, Ohio, where he outlined his plan for the economy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has said she wants spending on highways and other transportation infrastructure included in the next stimulus package.

President Bush increased highway and transit spending to a record $286.5 billion over six years in the highway bill he signed into law in 2005. That compared with $218 billion for the previous highway bill but was less than the $375 billion House leaders wanted.

Infrastructure Bank

Obama in February proposed a so-called infrastructure bank, supplementing the highway fund, to invest $60 billion over 10 years.

The American Society of Civil Engineers says it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to bring U.S. infrastructure to ``good'' condition, excluding expansion costs.

``If you believe the country has a problem, or a crisis as I'd call it, in transportation infrastructure, you've got to continue to spend,'' James Young, chief executive officer of Union Pacific Corp., the biggest U.S. railroad company, said in an Oct. 23 interview.

Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of backhoes and excavators, endorses the idea that increased public-works spending, along with free-trade agreements, are critical to keeping U.S. manufacturers competitive.

The U.S. needs to invest $300 billion to $700 billion to build roads, ports and airports to ward off competition from companies in China and other emerging countries, said Doug Oberhelman, one of six group presidents at Peoria, Illinois- based Caterpillar.

Global Trade

``It's really a competitiveness issue, not to mention a jobs bill,'' Oberhelman said in an Oct. 28 phone interview.

Caterpillar, along with General Electric Co., also wants to keep trade open to foster exports. The global financial crisis may frighten lawmakers into a protectionist stance, GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said at an Oct. 27 presentation at Columbia University in New York.

``When people are afraid they want to create barriers to trade,'' said Immelt, who characterizes himself as a lifelong Republican. ``It would be a real crime, I think, if we allowed the current economic volatility to make us move backward in globalization.''

The U.S. and other developed markets still need to trade goods globally to remain competitive because they won't be able to ``reframe'' their economies to be services-based, Immelt said in the Columbia University speech. The ``only future'' for the U.S. and Europe is ``the ability to be able to make and sell products and to be able to do so on a global basis.''

`His Own Man'

Obama financed his campaign mainly through grass-roots contributions instead of the business community and as such he has ``every opportunity to be completely his own man when he gets into the White House,'' Immelt said in an Oct. 29 speech to more than 100 business leaders in Madrid.

``He really doesn't owe oil companies anything, the Chamber of Commerce anything,'' Immelt said.

Insurers UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint would get more customers, including some they now turn down, under Obama's health-care plan. Drugmakers Pfizer Inc. and Wyeth may face cheaper imports from Canada and negotiations with the government over the price of medicines for the elderly.

Obama promised to revamp the health-care system within his first four-year term. He said he would reduce costs and get everyone in the U.S. affordable medical coverage, with the same quality of benefits that members of Congress have.

Health Care

While insurance companies would be barred from rejecting applicants with pre-existing medical conditions, they would also benefit from subsidies to make coverage more affordable for the 46 million uninsured Americans.

``If we were able to get everyone in the system, which is no small feat, there could be some real benefits accruing to the health insurers,'' said Phil Blando, a partner with AB+M Partners LLC, a consulting firm in Washington that has insurers as clients, in a pre-election interview.

Drugmakers may not do as well because Obama wants to give Medicare, the federal health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled, authority to negotiate the price of medicines for its drug plans. Obama would also let consumers import drugs from Canada and other countries. The pharmaceutical industry and President Bush opposed both initiatives.

Obama may achieve incremental progress at best because of the financial crisis, said Carl McDonald, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York.

Children, Medicare

``The continued financial market trouble has made it even less likely that we will see any major changes to the employer group health-insurance market, since there just isn't the funding available to pay for any kind of major reform,'' McDonald said.

He predicted action in 2009 only on two changes that Democrats in Congress previously proposed and Bush resisted: an expansion of the state children's health program and cuts in payments to insurance companies under the government's Medicare Advantage plan.

U.S. defense companies including Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. have benefited from a 70 percent increase in defense spending since 2000 because of war costs and expenditures on new weapons. They expect the trend to continue under Obama.

``The first and foremost priority is sustaining a defense budget that can support the variety of needs that are apparent when we look at national security,'' said Marion Blakey, president of the Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group representing U.S. defense companies.

Defense Contractors

The defense budget increased 72 percent to $671.7 billion for fiscal 2008 from $381.3 billion in 2000, after adjusting for inflation and including spending for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In September, President Bush approved a $579 billion defense budget for 2009 that doesn't include the full cost of ongoing military operations.

Obama's administration has to continue modernizing U.S. weapons systems, Blakey said. The trade group advocates about $120 billion to $150 billion a year for procurement of new weapons compared with the $126.2 billion in the 2008 budget.

The new Democratic administration faces decisions on $125 billion in major weapons programs, John Young, the Pentagon's chief of acquisitions, told reporters on Oct. 30.

They include purchase of additional Lockheed Martin Corp. F-22 fighter jets and Boeing Co.'s C-17 transports, replacements of the Air Force refueling tankers, and purchase of combat, search and rescue helicopters for the Air Force.

Shipbuilding

In addition, U.S. military shipbuilding ``is on a course that's not to be changed,'' Nicholas Chabraja, chief executive officer of General Dynamics Corp., said on an Oct. 22 conference call. ``You're going to have a Democratic Congress no matter which party occupies Pennsylvania Avenue, and that Congress is dead set on improving the number of ships in the fleet.''

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said increasing defense spending may act as a boost to the economy.

``We are trying to persuade people it would be a good thing'' to increase the projected 2010 defense budget of $526.7 billion by $57 billion, Gates said in an Oct. 21 interview. ``If you want to talk about a stimulus package, the defense budget's not bad and obviously a lot of jobs around the country depend'' on military spending.

Airlines

Delta Air Lines and other U.S. carriers may face higher labor costs under an Obama administration.

Obama also has pledged to keep current limits on foreign ownership of U.S. airlines' stock, and may accelerate air- traffic control upgrades and improve controllers' working conditions, according to industry groups and unions.

``We would expect an Obama administration would live up to its strong commitment to not only support, but strengthen, the collective-bargaining right of workers,'' said Ed Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO's transportation trades department.

After industry losses the Air Transport Association trade group projects at more than $5 billion this year, airlines may post a collective 2009 profit, thanks to fare increases and fuel prices that have tumbled about 50 percent since a July peak.

Delta, the world's largest airline, is the U.S. industry's least unionized, with only pilots represented. Unions including the Association of Flight Attendants will try organizing drives next year at the Atlanta-based carrier.

Obama's National Mediation Board may take steps such as granting quicker releases from mediation, which would let unions start countdowns to possible strikes sooner, said Andrew Steinberg, former transportation assistant secretary under President Bush.

Media Companies

Those actions might prove ``significant'' in giving unions leverage in talks over wage increases and work rules, said Steinberg, a partner at the Jones Day law firm in Washington.

Obama also may strengthen airline regulation, including steps to discourage airlines from sending maintenance work overseas to save costs, said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Obama will try to use his office to slow media concentration and to increase local TV news coverage, moves that have stirred resistance from industry groups.

The new president ``is going to push for a more open, more diverse media,'' Gloria Tristani, a former Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission, said in an interview.

Obama has sought to reverse last year's FCC ruling that makes it easier for companies such as Gannett Co. and Tribune Co. to own daily newspapers and nearby TV and radio stations in the 20 largest U.S. markets. A resolution co-sponsored by Obama and 26 other senators failed to clear Congress.

Internet Access

``It would be a challenge'' to get more relief from media ownership regulation under an Obama administration, said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the Washington-based National Association of Broadcasters, in an interview.

Obama has made broader Internet access a goal and insisted that broadcasters focus more on public service. In a statement to the FCC last year, he called for ``new rules promoting greater coverage of local issues and greater responsiveness of broadcasters to the communities they operate in.''

Broadcasters including News Corp.'s Fox Television Stations, Inc.; Walt Disney Co., owner of the ABC network; General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal and CBS Corp. are fighting rules that the FCC proposed to ensure local involvement.

``Broadcasters do not need mandates from the federal government to motivate them to provide quality local service to their communities,'' NBC said in comments filed in June.

Antitrust Enforcement

Obama ``strongly supports'' the principle of network neutrality, according to a policy statement posted on his Web site. He has said letting Internet providers, including cable companies such as Comcast Corp., charge fees that give some Web sites or applications priority over others ``would threaten innovation, the open tradition and architecture of the Internet, and competition.''

Obama also promises to ``reinvigorate'' antitrust enforcement. In contrast to the Bush administration, an Obama presidency would view media mergers ``very skeptically,'' Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a Washington-based public interest group, said in an interview.

Obama pledged to make the research and development tax credit permanent and said he will double budgets for scientific research over the next decade.

``The most important issue that needs to be addressed, and has unfortunately been neglected for a very long time, is the funding of research in the physical sciences,'' said George Scalise, president of the Semiconductor Industry Association in San Jose, California, whose members include Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. ``We would like to see that be the No. 1 priority.''

Regulating the Web

On the Internet, Obama backs ``network-neutrality'' rules, which would prevent Web operators from giving preferential treatment to some companies' content and services.

Companies opposed to net neutrality, such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., would have benefited from a McCain administration, Paul Glenchur, an analyst with the Stanford Group Co. in Washington, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

``Regulating the Internet has really horrendous implications,'' Sprint Nextel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse said after a speech in Washington on Oct. 24. Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, is the third-biggest U.S. wireless carrier. ``Probably the thing that scares the industry the most about a Democratic administration is regulating the one real shining star that's really working really well, and that's the Internet.''

Consolidation in the telecommunications industry will also probably slow under an Obama administration, Glenchur said. Obama has pledged to ``reinvigorate'' antitrust enforcement, according to his technology policy statement.

Almost three in five, or 58 percent, of technology-industry executives say an Obama administration will be better for technology development, investment and regulation, according to an October survey of 145 executives by law firm DLA Piper.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Mentor, Ohio, at lwoellert@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 4, 2008 23:13 EST