House Committee Advances 3 Bills Affecting ERISA Plans

The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce on May 21 advanced a series of bills prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers from providing kickbacks or referral fees to intermediaries, requiring hospitals to adopt accurate billing practices, and extending the deadline for plans to file Form 5500 disclosures. The bills, each affecting plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, may now receive consideration from the full House of Representatives.

“The Committee is … taking important steps … to strengthen retirement security, [and] these bills reflect our commitment to transparency, accountability and better outcomes for students, families and workers,” said Committee Chair Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, in a statement.

The ERISA Industry Committee supported each bill, writing in a statement after the vote that the three measures would “increase accountability in the prescription drug supply chain, strengthen oversight of hospital billing practices and eliminate unnecessary paperwork and red tape for employers providing retirement benefits.”

“By advancing these bills, the committee has taken a meaningful step to strengthen transparency and accountability in the healthcare system, and to make it easier for employers to provide retirement benefits to workers,” wrote ERIC President and CEO James Gelfand in a statement. “We urge Congress to swiftly consider and pass these bills, and deliver commonsense reforms.”

PBM Kickback Prohibition

The PBM Kickback Prohibition Act, introduced on March 12 by Representative Rick Allen, R-Georgia, passed the Education and Workforce Committee unanimously. The bill would bar pharmacy benefit managers from paying brokers or consultants to direct employer health plans toward preferred PBMs.

During a hearing in April before the committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, lawmakers described PBMs—the companies that negotiate rebates, manage formularies, and decide which pharmacies and drugs are favored in many insurance plans—as powerful intermediaries whose business practices have become too opaque for employers, workers and even regulators to follow.

“It seems that instead of placing the plan sponsor with the best PBM, it’s more about placing the PBM with the plan sponsor who pays the consultant the most,” said Hannah Anderson, a senior director of policy at the America First Policy Institute, during the hearing. “This isn’t theoretical. It’s affecting millions of Americans right now.”

Transparency in Hospital Billing

The Transparency in Billing Act of 2026, introduced on May 7 by Representatives Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, and Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, also passed unanimously. The bill would require hospitals to include a separate, unique health provider identifier for the department in which the treatment was provided when submitting a claim for hospital outpatient services and include it on all claims for services billed to commercial health plans or their enrollees.

During Thursday’s markup, Scott said, “Under changes enacted by the Consolidated Appropriations Act [of] 2026, Medicare will soon require hospitals to obtain a unique national provider identifier to allow payers to accurately determine the setting where care was delivered. … However, [without this bill,] those same transparency requirements will not apply in the private insurance market, including for ERISA-covered health plans.”

Form 5500 Disclosures

The Form 5500 Filing Simplification Act, introduced on February 4 by Representatives Glenn Grothman, R-Wisconsin, and Donald Norcross, D-New Jersey, advanced by a 22-to-12 vote, with three of the committee’s Democrats, including Norcross, voting for it. The legislation would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to extend the Form 5500 filing deadline for calendar-year plans by more than two months, to October 15 from July 31. It would eliminate the need for plans to file a request for extension and would permit electronic filing for certain reports required under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code.

The bill would be effective for plan years ending on or after the date of enactment. A benefit plan would be deemed in compliance if it complies in good faith before the Department of the Treasury, Department of Labor and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation implement the proposed measures.