  We show that the Standard Model vacuum can be stabilized if all particle
propagators are non-minimally coupled to gravity. This is due to a
Higgs-background dependent redefinition of the Standard Model fields: in terms
of canonical variables and in the large Higgs field limit, the quantum
fluctuations of the redefined fields are suppressed by the Higgs background.
Thus, in this regime, quantum corrections to the tree-level electroweak
potential are negligible. Finally, we show that in this framework the Higgs
boson can be responsible for inflation. Due to a numerical coincidence that
originates from the CMB data, inflation can happen if the Higgs boson mass, the
top mass, and the QCD coupling lie in a region of the parameter space
approximately equivalent than the one allowing for electroweak vacuum stability
in the Standard Model. We find some (small) regions in the Standard Model
parameter space in which the new interaction "rescues" the electroweak vacuum,
which would not be stable in the Standard Model.
