Drug store sales are benefiting from the intense flu season, as more people are going out to get flu shots and other disease-related products.
Walgreens sales in store locations open for at least one year saw a 9.2 percent sales increase in "front of the store" flu-related items such as tissues and over-the-counter medicines, reported NBC News. The pharmacies also felt the traffic boost, as they administered 7.6 million flu shots - which is up by a million from a year ago.
The flu season was previously declared an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They also have noted that this year's flu vaccine is a bad match for the virus currently circulating the country.
As of the week of Jan. 5, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi are the three hardest hit states, respectively, based on the Walgreens Flu Index.
Shares in competing drug stores - including Rite Aid and CVS - have also been increasing over the course of the flu season, reported NBC News.
As the drug stores reap the benefits of an intense flu season, some insurers could be taking a hit.
Analysts are discussing the possibility of insurers being negatively affected by the surge of flu-related cases entering doctor's offices and hospitals.
"While flu costs are seasonal and not indicative of underlying cost trends, they can have marginal impact on health plan medical costs and hospital volumes and can be challenging to disentangle from underlying trend estimates," wrote Brian Wright, health-care analyst at Sterne Agee, according to NBC News.
Medicaid players Centene and Wellcare Health Plans are the major insurers in the areas hardest hit with the flu in the U.S.
Wedbush analyst Sarah James speculated that the high flu activity will hit fourth-quarter results for pure-play Medicaid insurers, but the impact is likely to be more evenly spread than it was two years ago in Texas, reported NBC News.
"In 2012, the primary outbreak of concern was in Texas," she wrote in a note to investors, adding that because of greater exposure to the Lone Star State, Centene's fourth-quarter results that year were harder hit than its rival Molina Health's.
"This year, there is overlap for all companies in multiple regions and states," James said, according to NBC News.
