Company: HQL
Filing Date: 2025-12-08
Form Type: N-CSR
Source: 0001104659-25-119341
Chunk: 52

Company: abrdn Life Sciences Investors
Filing Date: 2025-12-08
Form: N-CSR
Chunk 52
---
 state, local and international levels. Insurance and Health Maintenance Organizations (“HMOs”) subsidiaries must be licensed by and are subject to the regulations of the jurisdictions in which they conduct business. U.S. health plans and insurance companies are also regulated under state insurance holding company regulations, and some of their activities may be subject to other health care-related regulations. The health care industry is also regularly subject to negative publicity, including as a result of governmental investigations, adverse media coverage and political debate surrounding industry regulation. Negative publicity may adversely affect stock price, damage the reputation of managed care companies

| 42 | abrdn Life Sciences Investors |

Additional Information Regarding the Fund (Unaudited) (continued) in various markets or foster an increasingly active regulatory environment, which, in turn, could further increase the regulatory burdens under which such companies operate and their costs of doing business. The evolution of the ACA and other regulatory reforms could materially and adversely affect the manner in which U.S. managed care companies conduct business and their results of operations, financial position and cash flows. The ACA includes guaranteed coverage and expanded benefit requirements, eliminates pre-existing condition exclusions and annual and lifetime maximum limits, restricts the extent to which policies can be rescinded, establishes minimum medical loss ratios, creates a federal premium review process, imposes new requirements on the format and content of communications (such as explanations of benefits) between health insurers and their members, grants to members new and additional appeal rights, and imposes new and significant taxes on health insurers and health care benefits. New laws or regulations could drive substantial change to the way healthcare products and services are currently delivered and paid for in the United States. Health plans and insurance companies could face meaningful disruption or disintermediation if the U.S. migrates to a single payer healthcare system where the government acts as the sole payer of healthcare services for the entire population. A transformative overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system could impact the financial viability of managed care companies in which the Fund may invest. Managed care companies contract with physicians, hospitals, pharmaceutical benefit service providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and other health care providers for services. Suchcompanies’ results of operations and prospects are substantially dependent on their continued ability to contract for these services at competitive prices. Failure to develop and maintain satisfactory relationships with health care providers, whether in-network or out-of network,could materially and adversely affect business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows. Life Science and Tools Industry Risk. Life sciences industries are characterized by limited product focus, rapidly changing technology and extensive government regulation