As reported by the House Committee on Education and Workforce on December 15, 2025
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars | 2026 | 2026-2031 | 2026-2036 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Direct Spending (Outlays) | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Revenues | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Spending Subject to Appropriation (Outlays) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Increases net direct spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | No | Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply? | Yes | ||||||||
Mandate Effects | |||||||||||
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | No | Contains intergovernmental mandate? | Yes, Under Threshold | ||||||||
Contains private-sector mandate? | No | ||||||||||
Sources: CBO and staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. * = between -$500,000 and $500,000. | |||||||||||
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H.R. 2571 would amend the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to exclude stop-loss policies from that act’s definition of health insurance coverage. Those policies insure against excess or unexpected losses by self-insured group health plans or sponsors of a group health plan that self-insures. Excluding stop-loss policies from the definition of health insurance would exclude those policies from being regulated by ERISA. The bill also would preempt state laws that prevent group health plans from obtaining stop-loss policies.
CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that enacting H.R. 2571 would not significantly affect direct spending, revenues, or deficits over the 2026-2036 period. CBO and JCT’s analysis of state laws indicates that few states prohibit the sale of stop-loss coverage; thus, the bill’s preemption of state laws would affect only a small number of people.
H.R. 2571 would impose an intergovernmental mandate as defined by the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by preempting any state laws that prevent certain group health plans from using stop-loss policies to insure against excess or unexpected claims losses. CBO estimates that the cost of the mandate would not exceed the intergovernmental threshold established by UMRA ($107 million in 2026, adjusted annually for inflation). The bill would not impose any private-sector mandates.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Emily Vreeland (for federal costs) and Andrew Laughlin (for mandates). The estimate was reviewed by Chad Chirico, Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel
Director, Congressional Budget Office