MHIP vs XLV

MHIPCMilliman Healthcare Inflation Plus ETF

XLVAState Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF

In short

MHIP Most health-care ETFs track the sector's stocks. MHIP aims at its bills: a multi-asset, US-focused portfolio whose stated goal is returns above U.S. healthcare cost inflation. Different yardstick, different fund.

XLV Live since 1998, XLV is the original way to own health care: about 60 S&P 500 names, a 0.08% fee, and one of the busiest tickers in the sector. Big pharma and device makers, not small-cap biotech.

Stated mandate

MHIP The Fund seeks to generate returns before fees and expenses that, over time, exceed U.S. healthcare cost inflation.

XLV The fund seeks to track, before expenses, the price and yield performance of the Health Care Select Sector Index, which represents the health care sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Why people hold it

• MHIP The benchmark is a cost, not a stock index. The prospectus goal is returns, before fees, above U.S. healthcare cost inflation, a yardstick the sector's big index trackers don't use.
• Multi-asset by design. The mandate isn't limited to healthcare equities and runs an advertised factor approach rather than a market-cap ladder, with a US focus.
• The paperwork is specific: sector, geography and objective are all pinned down in SEC filings, and the portfolio has matched the mission it advertises.

• XLV 0.08% a year against a cohort median of 0.50%. That ties it with FHLC as the cheapest in the group and edges VHT at 0.09%.
• One of the most actively traded funds in its category, which generally keeps bid-ask spreads thin whether you trade 10 shares or 10,000.
• Launched December 1998 as one of the first US sector funds, and it has tracked its S&P 500 health care index closely ever since.
• Covers the whole sector in one line: pharma, devices, providers, biotech, life-science tools and health tech. Pays quarterly.ssga.com

Worth knowing

• MHIP Costs 0.55% a year, above the typical health-care sector fund and several times what plain index trackers such as VHT, XLV and FHLC charge.
• Launched in 2026, still small and thinly traded, so spreads and fill quality matter more here than with the sector's household-name funds.
• Short history. There's no full-cycle record yet showing how the strategy behaves when markets and healthcare costs move in opposite directions.

• XLV Cap-weighted and about 60 names deep, so the largest drug and device makers carry most of the weight.ssga.com
• S&P 500 members only. Mid- and small-cap health care names sit outside the mandate.
• One sector, one set of headlines: drug pricing rules, patent expirations and policy shifts move the whole basket together.

Full MHIP profile⁠

Full XLV profile⁠