Healthcare is one of those evergreen investment themes. There will always be a healthcare industry, and it will always be a place to find great long-term stocks.

Today, healthcare spending in the United States alone is worth more than $4.3 trillion annually. So, consider these three stocks to buy and hold indefinitely, especially if you want reliable long-term growth and stability.

An old stock with a new face

You probably know healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson for some of its former brands, like Tylenol and Band-Aids. But those products make up their own company today after being spun off as Kenvue (KVUE -0.84%), which is now the world's largest consumer health products company, with approximately $15 billion in revenue last year.

Kenvue's products fall into three segments: self care like Tylenol pain reliever, skin health and beauty such as Neutrogena lotions, and essential health like Band-Aids. These are products consumers keep in their homes with brand power that's been built over decades in some cases.

People tend to buy these routinely, and it's no coincidence that Johnson & Johnson raised its dividend for 60 consecutive years with these products as part of its business.

What might investors expect from Kenvue? The company has already begun its dividend story, announcing a quarterly payout yielding a solid 3.8% at its current share price, and analysts believe earnings per share (EPS) will average 7% annual growth over the next three to five years.

Will that make you a millionaire overnight? No, but Kenvue could be a similar defensive, reliable, long-term blue chip that Johnson & Johnson has been for decades before it.

A company treating the world's most prominent health conditions

Healthcare has evolved over the centuries, and Abbott Laboratories (ABT 0.63%) has been around since the 1800s because it has evolved with the industry. That includes as recently as the past decade.

The company reshaped itself, spinning off its pharmaceutical business as AbbVie and investing in acquisitions that gave it a foothold in diagnostics and medical devices. Today, Abbott Labs is positioned to benefit from the demand for treatments for several prominent care categories, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, nutrition, diagnostics, and branded generic medications.

The company produces more than $40 billion in annual revenue and has paid a dividend for many decades. It's financially healthy: The nearly $17 billion in debt on its balance sheet is just 1.7 times the business' earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). It also has over $8 billion in cash, so there's plenty of breathing room for management.

The dividend payout ratio is also manageable at just over 60%. All of this points to a reliable company that allows shareholders to sleep well at night.

Diabetes and heart disease are significant problems in a world struggling with obesity, so there should be continued demand for Abbott Labs' products over the coming years. Analysts believe the company's EPS will grow by an average of 7% annually over the long term so that investors could see mid-single-digit dividend increases and steady price appreciation over time.

Not just a retail company anymore

There are pharmacies throughout your neighborhood; one is probably your local CVS Health (CVS -0.22%) store. CVS pharmacies have been around for many years. Pharmacies don't make much money by filling your prescriptions; instead, those get you into the store, where you might buy higher-margin groceries or other products.

In recent years, e-commerce and technology have emerged as potential threats to this business model. CVS has responded by integrating more pieces of the healthcare system into its business, shifting to serving patients throughout their care process, from insurance to primary care, along with prescription and retail. It acquired Aetna to add health insurance to its model in 2018 and bought Oak Street Health earlier this year to provide primary care.

Significant changes to a business can spook investors, and understandably so. The risk in owning CVS is that these changes don't work, and the company fails to grow and create shareholder value. But there are some positive signs. Analysts believe EPS will increase by an average of 6% annually, and free cash flow is already near all-time highs.

These signals point to CVS being a solid long-term investment as long as the company remains a vital cog in the healthcare system.