The Markets Go Mad for Obamacare

Although President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law almost four years ago, much of Washington still treats the fate of his signature legislation as an open question. Last fall’s government shutdown was a Republican attempt to stop the law before federal exchanges began signing up customers. Even as the number of enrollees climbs into the millions, conservatives continue to insist that Obamacare will collapse. Lately, Republicans have rallied around Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s proposal to sabotage the law by abolishing “risk corridors,” a provision that induces insurance companies to participate in the exchanges by limiting their financial risk. (Rubio casts this as a taxpayer-funded “bailout.”)

A new online broker, Motif Investing, is offering Obamacare’s friends and foes alike a chance to put their money where their mouth is. Co-founded by a former Microsoft executive, Hardeep Walia, and backed by Goldman Sachs and other investors, Motif allows customers to bet on narrowly tailored concepts. “A lot of people think conceptually about investing,” he says. “We take ideas and translate them to what we call a ‘motif’—an intelligently weighted basket of up to 30 stocks, built around an idea that people can understand.” Examples of these baskets include Chinese solar, 3D printing, and “caffeine fix”—an assortment of coffee, soda, and energy drink companies.