# 119-s-1847: Association Health Plans Act

119-s-1847, Association Health Plans Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY] (R-KY); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-03).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1847
- As of: 2026-10-03
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-1847
- Congress: 119
- Title: Association Health Plans Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-05-21
- Sponsor: Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY] (R-KY)
- Cosponsors: 7
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-03

## Summary

**Treat certain employer groups as employers under ERISA** so they can offer association health plans under a single federal framework. The bill sets tests for size and governance, allows pooled premium-setting with member-level risk adjustments, and preserves protections against health-status discrimination and pre-existing-condition denials. - Groups that run a group health plan would be treated as an "employer" under ERISA if they meet governance and size rules. The group must cover at least 51 employees and have been in active existence for at least 2 years. - Self-employed individuals could join these plans as employer members and as plan participants if they own the business and work at least 10 hours per week (or 40 hours per month). Plan boards must determine initial eligibility and regularly monitor continued eligibility. - Plans could pool all participant claims to set a base premium and then actuarially adjust each employer member's contribution using the member's risk profile where state law allows. Plans are barred from eligibility rules or premium differences based on health status and cannot deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.

## Cosponsors (7)

- Sen. Graham, Darline [R-SC] (R-SC), 2026-09-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS] (R-MS), 2025-05-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC] (R-SC), 2025-07-15T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL] (R-FL), 2025-10-16T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Moody, Ashley [R-FL] (R-FL), 2025-12-17T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN), 2026-02-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Young, Todd [R-IN] (R-IN), 2026-06-02T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Protections for people in association plans: benefit, medium. If enacted, association plans could not use health status to deny eligibility or continued eligibility. Plans could not charge higher premiums or contributions based on health status. Plans also could not deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, consistent with current federal law. The bill would…
- How association plans set premiums: mixed, medium. If enacted, association plans could set a pooled, actuarially sound base premium that pools all participants' claims. Plans could then adjust each employer member's contribution up or down for that employer's risk profile. If the plan covers only self-employed members (no common-law employers), the…
- New rules for self-employed coverage: mixed, medium. If enacted, self-employed people could join association plans as both employer-members and plan participants if they meet tests. To qualify they must have no common-law employees, own a business, earn wages or self-employment income from it, and work at least 10 hours per week (or 40 hours per mont…
- Qualifying association health plan rules: mixed, medium. If enacted, a group or association could be treated as the 'employer' for its group health plan if it meets listed rules. The group would need to have a group health plan covering at least 51 aggregated employees, exist at least 2 years, have a formal board with at least 75% employer-member board m…
- Coverage won't prove employer status: mixed, low. If enacted, simply giving someone association health coverage would not by itself count as proof that an employer or joint employer relationship exists under Federal or State law. Courts and agencies could not use only that coverage as legal evidence in disputes.

## Related bills

- 119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
- 119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027
- 119-s-3752: SAVE America Act
- 119-s-6: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
- 119-sres-913: A resolution relating to the death of the Honorable Nancy Kassebaum, former United States Senator for the State of Kansas.
- 119-sres-897: A resolution honoring the life, service, and legacy of the Honorable Jon Llewellyn Kyl, former Senator for the State of Arizona.

## Sources
- [119-s-1847 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1847)

## Related
- [119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2296)
- [119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4784)
- [119-s-3752: SAVE America Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3752)
- [119-s-6: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-6)
- [119-sres-913: A resolution relating to the death of the Honorable Nancy Kassebaum, former Uni…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-sres-913)
- [119-sres-897: A resolution honoring the life, service, and legacy of the Honorable Jon Llewel…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-sres-897)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1847 (as of 2026-10-03).