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Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions legislation such as Association Health Plans Act, committees such as Committee on Education and Workforce, members such as Tim Walberg. Extensions of Remarks are statements submitted for the official record, even if they were not spoken live on the floor.
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September 16, 2026
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Extensions of Remarks
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Download official Extensions PDFReturn to issue contextHON. TIM WALBERG
of michigan
in the house of representatives
Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following cost estimate for H.R. 2528, Association Health Plans Act, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, which was not made available to the Committee on Education and Workforce at the time of the filing of the legislative report.
H.R. 2528, ASSOCIATION HEALTH PLANS ACT, AS REPORTED BY THE HOUSE
————————————————————————————————————
By fiscal year, millions of
dollars—
—————————————————-
———————————————————————————————————— Direct Spending (Outlays)........... 0 278 1,105 Revenues............................ 0 -1,143 -3,259 Increase or Decrease (-) in the 0 1,421 4,364 Deficit............................ Spending Subject to Appropriation 0 0 0 (Outlays).......................... ————————————————————————————————————
Increases net direct spending in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? >$2.5 billion.
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive
10-year periods beginning in 2037? >$5 billion.
Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply? Yes.
Mandate Effects:
Contains intergovernmental mandate? No.
Contains private-sector mandate? No.
The bill would:
Revise the definition of “employer” in the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to allow
self-employed people and groups of employers without a common
interest to sponsor association health plans (AHPs)
Estimated budgetary effects would mainly stem from:
Increases in tax deductions attributable to larger
AHP enrollment among self-employed people
Increases in federal subsidies for health
insurance resulting from higher premiums in the nongroup and
small-group health insurance markets because some self-
employed people and small employers with lower-than-average
health costs would enroll in AHPs
Areas of significant uncertainty include:
Anticipating employers' responses to the changing
cost of health insurance
Projecting patterns of health care use
Bill summary: H.R. 2528 would revise the definition of
“employer” in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
of 1974, to newly enable groups of self-employed people and
groups of employers without a common interest to form
association health plans (AHPs). Under current law, only
groups of employers with a common interest may establish AHPs
to purchase health insurance collectively. Such plans
typically can offer their enrollees lowercost premiums than
would be available in the nongroup or small-group markets.
Estimated Federal cost: The estimated budgetary effects of
H.R. 2528 are shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation
fall within budget function 550 (health).
TABLE 1.—ESTIMATED BUDGETARY EFFECTS OF H.R. 2528 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
By fiscal year, millions of dollars—
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2026-2031 2026-2036 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
INCREASES OR DECREASES (-) IN DIRECT SPENDING
Estimated Budget Authority....... 0 -12 22 58 97 113 140 149 156 178 204 278 1,105 Estimated Outlays................ 0 -12 22 58 97 113 140 149 156 178 204 278 1,105
DECREASES IN REVENUES
Estimated Revenues............... 0 -61 -143 -236 -326 -377 -387 -403 -416 -440 -470 -1,143 -3,259
On-Budget.................... -0 -54 -128 -209 -289 -336 -344 -358 -371 -392 -420 -1,016 -2,901
Off-Budget a................. 0 -7 -15 -27 -37 -41 -43 -45 -45 -48 -50 -127 -358
NET INCREASE IN THE DEFICIT FROM CHANGES IN DIRECT SPENDING AND REVENUES
Effect on the Deficit............ 0 49 165 294 423 490 527 552 572 618 674 1,421 4,364
On-Budget.................... 0 42 150 267 386 449 484 507 527 570 624 1,294 4,006
Off-Budget a................. 0 7 15 27 37 41 43 45 45 48 50 127 358 ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Sources: Congressional Budget Office; staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. a Off-budget effects would arise from changes in Social SecurIty revenues.
Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that the
legislation will be enacted in fiscal year 2026 and that
additional enrollment in AHPs will begin in calendar year
Direct spending and revenues: H.R. 2528 would allow self-
employed people and groups of employers to form AHPs without
meeting the current-law requirement to have a common interest
among members. CBO expects that enrollment in AHPs would
increase under the bill because AHPs typically offer premiums
that are less costly than the modified community-rated
premiums available in the nongroup and small-group markets.
In general, modified community-rated premiums can vary only
on the basis of enrollees' age, location, and tobacco use. By
contrast. AHPs can adjust premiums based on other factors
related to members' health status. For example, members'
occupations could be used as a proxy for health status.
Because AHPs can adjust premiums to account for factors that
more closely underlie the health of enrollees, a healthier
self-employed person or a small employer with healthier-than-
average workers could pay less for premiums through an AHP
than they otherwise would for modified community-rated
premiums in the nongroup and small-group markets.
On the basis of a comparison of premiums under AHPs and
under nongroup and small-group plans. CBO estimates that
enacting H.R. 2528 would increase the number of people
obtaining insurance through AHPs by about 725,000 per year,
on average, over the 2027-2036 period. CBO estimates that
under current law, about 155,000 of those people (or
about 20 percent) have no health insurance and that the
remaining 570,000 obtain insurance coverage in the nongroup
or small-group markets. That estimate reflects factors that
would limit the ability of employers and the self-employed to
join or form AHPs. Those factors include requirements that an
AHP have a minimum number of employee members, be formed for
a purpose other than providing health insurance, and exist
for more than two years before offering such benefits.
CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT)
estimate that enacting H.R. 2528 would increase federal
subsidies for health insurance for two reasons in particular:
Some self-employed people who are uninsured under
current law would take up insurance offered through AHPs,
thereby increasing new claims for the tax deduction for
health insurance for self-employed people.
Slightly higher premiums in the nongroup and
remaining small-group markets would result from people with
lower-than-average health costs shifting to AHPs. That change
would increase federal costs for the premium tax credit for
health insurance purchased through the marketplaces
established by the Affordable Care Act and would shift a
portion of some employees' compensation from taxable wages to
tax-favored health insurance for those insured in the small-
group market.
CBO and JCT estimate that these changes would increase
direct spending, on net, by $1.1 billion and decrease
revenues by $3.3 billion, for a total increase in the deficit
of $4.4 billion over the 2026-2036 period.
Uncertainty: CBO and JCT's estimates of the budgetary
effects of H.R. 2528 are subject to uncertainty because of
the difficulty in anticipating employers' responses to
changes in health insurance costs and in projecting patterns
of health care use, which affect premiums. The budgetary
effects of enacting H.R. 2528 could be larger or smaller than
estimated here.
Pay-As-You-Go considerations: The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go
Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement
procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or
revenues. The net changes in outlays and revenues that are
subject to those pay-as-you-go procedures are shown in Table
Only on-budget changes to outlays or revenues are subject
to pay-as-you-go procedures.
TABLE 2.—CBO'S ESTIMATE OF THE STATUTORY PAY-AS-YOU-GO EFFECTS OF H.R. 2528, THE ASSOCIATION HEALTH PLANS ACT, AS REPORTED BY THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
By fiscal year, millions of dollars—
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2026-2031 2026-2036 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
NET INCREASES IN THE ON-BUDGET DEFICIT
Pay-As-Your-Go Effect............ 0 42 150 267 386 449 484 507 527 570 624 1,294 4,006 Memorandum:
Changes in Outlays........... 0 -12 22 58 97 113 140 149 156 178 204 278 1,105
Changes in Revenues.......... 0 -54 -128 -209 -289 -336 -344 -358 -371 -392 -420 -1,016 -2,901 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Increase in long-term net direct spending and deficits: CBO
estimates that enacting H.R. 2528 would increase net direct
spending by more than $2.5 billion in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2528 would increase on-
budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037.
Mandates: The bill contains no intergovernmental or
private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates
Reform Act.
Previous CBO estimate: On December 16, 2025, CBO
transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 6703, the Lower Health
Care Premiums for All Americans Act, as introduced in the
House of Representatives on December 12, 2025. Both bills
would expand AHP enrollment by establishing new rules for
AHPs and the estimates are similar, but H.R. 6703 included
several other provisions to modify requirements for
individual and group health coverage, require contracts
between plan sponsors and pharmacy benefit managers to meet
certain standards, and appropriate funding for reductions in
cost sharing.
Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Emily Vreeland;
Revenues: Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation; Mandates:
Andrew Laughlin.
Estimate reviewed by: Sarah Masi, Senior Adviser, Budget
Analysis Division; Kathleen FitzGerald, Chief, Public and
Private Mandates Unit; Chad Chirico, Director of Budget
Analysis.
Estimate approved by: Phillip L. Swagel, Director,
Congressional Budget Office.