Fourteen percent of Realtors are uninsured, and 91 percent of that group point to premium costs as the reason, according to the National Association of Realtors 2026 Health Insurance Survey.
Those statistics were the backdrop as the NAR met this week with officials from the White House, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to push for expanded health coverage options for self-employed agents.
The meetings come as the DOL works on a proposed rule that would revisit the federal definition of “employer.” A change could open the door for self-employed workers, including real estate professionals, to join Association Health Plans.
According to the latest Regulatory Agenda, the rule is expected in November. NAR’s ask is to make sure real estate pros are explicitly covered, and make the framework durable enough to survive legal challenges this time around.
“We support a rule that allows real estate professionals and other self-employed individuals to participate in high-quality, affordable health plans offered through trade associations,” Shannon McGahn, executive vice president and chief advocacy officer at NAR, said in a statement.
McGahn added that the Affordable Care Act works well for many NAR members, and the association strongly supports protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
“But for others, premiums, deductibles and copays remain a barrier to coverage,” she said. “AHPs can complement existing coverage options — not replace them — by providing another choice for self-employed professionals who remain uninsured because the cost of coverage is simply out of reach.”
AHPs aren’t a new idea for NAR. A prior generation of Realtor-sponsored AHPs got rolled back through litigation and shifting federal policy, which is why McGahn likely framed this round as being about durability as much as access.
“We support the Administration’s efforts to develop a workable and legally defensible rule so that self-employed professionals can rely on these options for the long term,” she said.
Tennessee Realtors was one of several state and local Realtor associations to launch an AHP after the Department of Labor’s 2018 rule opened the door, giving members a higher-quality, lower-cost coverage option.
The plans didn’t last, though. A federal district court struck down the rule in March 2019, and AHPs across the industry were shuttered.
“The loss of our AHP was devastating,” Angela Shields, CEO of Tennessee Realtors, said in testimony to the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions last year. “We invested time, resources and trust into a plan that worked. Our members still ask why we can’t offer them the affordable, quality coverage they once had.”
NAR was joined at the recent meetings by Tennessee Realtors’ Shields and:
- Tiffany Banks, CEO of Nevada Realtors, whose association previously offered an AHP to members
- Rick Lugg, CEO of Virginia Realtors, who shared his state’s efforts to expand health coverage options for self-employed professionals and emphasized the importance of ensuring federal agencies take a consistent approach to AHP policy.
Along with the 14 percent uninsured rate among NAR members, 58 percent of uninsured Realtors cited high deductibles and copays as a barrier. Thirty-five percent said fluctuating real estate income made it hard to keep coverage at all.
