Healthcare Stocks Good Buy During a Recession?

That's affirmative, according to Seeking Alpha analyst/writer Andrew Hart.

In recessionary periods, particularly this next one, Hart believes healthcare will be a "respectable value." Good to know someone still feels that way about the industry, and we're a decent way to pad your portfolio in anticipation of increasing turbulence.

Very interesting tidbit: Healthcare stocks outperformed the S&P 500 in each of the last 3 recessions.

So we're willing to invest plenty of money buying healthcare stocks when the chips are down, but not in bulwarking the system so it also excels in times of plenty?

Do we need to invest in rebuilding the healthcare/hospital industry from the ground up, or can we continue to pour billions of dollars into "facelift fixes" - including massive renovations and capital expansion projects?

That's a tough question, and luckily there are new players finding their own answers.

As usual, private investors and industry will step in when a sector is weakening and encapsulate value propositions with new business models.

Here's a new (to me) Health 2.0 firm doing just that - check out SugarStats.

The site has been instrumental in helping some users reduce blood glucose levels - here's a comment:

"Today, I can proudly say I have effectively been able to reduce my blood glucose levels by almost 10% in the past month, by exercising more and becoming more aware of my eating habits and glucose trends, thanks to SugarStats.com." --Manny Hernandez, TuDiabetes.com Founder

10% reduction in blood glucose levels. How's that for ROI?

So Health 2.0 firms can quantitatively improve wellness for users - finally an example of money (and time) well spent in the healthcare industry.

If you're coming to the Health 2.0 Unconference in Amsterdam next weekend (stay tuned for location announcement), you'll have the chance to meet SugarStats founder Marston Alfred, and ask him for yourself why investing in the future of consumer-directed care is a good buy, recession or no.