Health-care stocks - and pharmaceutical makers in particular - recently dodged a bullet when President Donald Trump unveiled a relatively benign overhaul to the nation's health-care system with the ultimate aim of lowering costs to costs.

Granted, the industry isn't entirely sure what bullet it dodged, in that these companies weren't sure what was in the works. The specifics of Trump's plans have yet to be fully fleshed out, too. But the fact that the conversation took place at all underscores the notion that many, many eyes are scrutinizing the sector's healthy bottom lines.

What if, however, there was a sliver of the health-care sector that really was relatively immune to the politicization of the business, and was resistant to economic cycles?

As it turns out, there is.

No company is outright bulletproof. However, a wide swath of these organizations are amazingly reliable revenue and profit producers. Here's a closer look at 10 top health-care stocks you can count on in good times and bad.

Merck

Getty Images

Market value: $158.9 billion

Dividend yield: 3.2%

It's predictable, almost to the point of being clichĂŠ, to peg drugmaker Merck (, $59.17) as one of the health-care sector's most reliable names. But it's big for a reason, and it has been around forever for the same reason: Merck's