Obamacare's winners and losers.

• Author: Gearino, G.D.
• Position: FINE PRINT

With the hyperventilation over health care having abated a bit--which is to say, now that we all understand civilization has neither been saved nor destroyed, that angels didn't sing nor did evil triumph--let's ponder how North Carolina's capitalist pie might get re-sliced as a result. What follows is a list of the winners and losers in business. But because life is full of contrary tides, each of these predictions comes with a "however." Also, those who make any investment decision based upon what's stated below deserve whatever damage results to their personal fortunes. Remember, I'm the guy who wrote that Waffle House is the best and brightest of American business (Fine Print, May 2009).

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Winner: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. What could be better than to have the federal government order citizens to buy what you're selling? (The newspaper business would kill to have the government declare that an informed citizenry is so vital to democracy that everyone should be required to subscribe to the local rag.) Even better was the post-passage realization that an apparent loophole in the new law could let insurers wriggle out of covering some pre-existing conditions. However: Taxes totaling $70 billion will be levied on the industry, starting in 2014. And the government, in its boundless wisdom, made the penalty for not buying health insurance so laughably low that it practically invites people not to get coverage until they're sick--thus encouraging the "death spiral."

Loser: Bank of America Corp. The health-care bill is so fiscally responsible that it ultimately will reduce the deficit--at least that's what they say. Still, the government feels the need to scramble for funds to pay for it, doing everything short of overturning Oval Office sofa cushions in search of change spilled from pockets of visiting heads of state. One measure has been to yank the federally funded student-loan program from banks and lend directly to college goers. Private lenders, BofA among them, collected $70 billion annually to administer the program. That easy money is gone. However: As BofA learned the hard way from TARP, the federal government is an expensive, high-maintenance date. It's not a bad thing to go home early and alone.

Winners: North Carolina's medical schools. Between Duke University, Wake Forest University, UNC Chapel Hill and East Carolina University, all of which are in the business of training physicians, the...