The healthcare sector's returns have continued to be very potent. More than almost any other corner of the U.S. equity market, healthcare stocks have dazzled in recent years, including the nearly five years since President Barack Obama signed his healthcare bill into law. However, the health sector's performance has impressed over both longer and shorter time periods as well. For the decade ended March 6, 2015, thehealthcare sector category posted average annualized returns of 13.8%, or more than 6 percentage points above the S&P 500's 7.5% annualized return during that same interval. Over shorter time frames, the sector also has performed very well, returning 21.3% annualized during the past five years, 30.2% during the past three years, 24.0% during the past year, and 7.0% year to date. In every time period, the healthcare Morningstar Category average has far outpaced the broad U.S. large-cap benchmark. Read more