SBA to promote health savings accounts as small-business benefit option
H.R. 5498 — Small Business Health Options Awareness Act of 2026 · Filed by Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill requires the Small Business Administration to gather and distribute information about individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs)—a type of health benefit account—to small businesses through SBA development centers, district offices, and online channels. The bill directs the SBA to work with Treasury, HHS, and Labor to compile existing federal guidance and make it accessible to small business owners.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a mandate for the SBA to compile and disseminate existing federal information about a specific health benefit product to small business owners. It is a straightforward informational/educational measure with no regulatory, financial, or structural changes.
What the text implies
- By directing SBA to promote ICHRAs, the bill may indirectly encourage small businesses to shift from traditional group health plans to individual-account-based arrangements, which could reduce employer-sponsored coverage breadth and shift more cost burden to employees.
- The bill references a 2019 Treasury rule on ICHRAs but does not restate its terms; the actual scope of what 'information' the SBA must disseminate depends entirely on that external rule's definition and regulatory landscape.
- No appropriations are specified, so implementation depends on existing SBA budgets and staff capacity; effectiveness may be limited if resources are not allocated.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Small business owners and their employees benefit from expanded access to information about health benefit options, particularly ICHRAs, which may offer cost-effective alternatives to traditional group health plans. The bill imposes no restrictions on citizens' rights or remedies and creates no new costs; it is purely informational.
Who stands to gain
- health insurance carriers offering ICHRA-compatible products
- third-party administrators managing ICHRAs
- small businesses seeking lower-cost health benefit alternatives
Named in the bill
Small Business Administration (SBA), Department of the Treasury, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Labor (DOL), small business development centers, individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs)
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.
- Sep 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Small Business · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Small Business”
- May 20, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- May 20, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 13 - 11”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $590,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Beth Van Duyne, the sponsor, reported $1,221,522 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Oscar Management Corporation — $370,000 on 1 filing
- Oscar Management Corporation — $120,000 on 2 filings
- Ehealth, Inc. — $100,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,691 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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