CRC Benefits Podcast

Breaking Down the One Big Beautiful Bill

• Amanda Knight and Michelle McCaw • Episode 1

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Ready for a healthcare shake-up? The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, is set to reshape how Americans access and manage healthcare for years to come.

In this first episode of the CRC Benefits Podcast, Misty Baker, CRC Benefits Director of Compliance, walks through the bill’s journey and breaks down four key provisions every benefits professional needs to know right now:

  • Permanent telehealth for HSA participants – removing barriers to virtual care
  • Dependent Care FSA expansion – $7,500 annual limits for individuals and joint filers starting in 2026
  • New “Trump Accounts” – tax-advantaged savings for children under 18, with $5,000 contribution limits and possible government funding for those born 2025–2028
  • Stricter ACA verification and Medicaid work requirements, plus extended paid family leave tax credits

Misty provides practical guidance on implementation timelines and what brokers should be doing today to prepare clients.

As Q4 approaches, understanding these changes is critical to building smarter benefit strategies. This episode delivers the clarity you need to move forward with confidence.

👉 Subscribe to the CRC Benefits Podcast for ongoing insights as these provisions roll out in 2025 and beyond.

Michelle McCaw:

Hi everyone and welcome to the very first episode of the CRC Benefit Check Podcast. I'm Michelle McCaw.

Amanda Knight:

And I'm Amanda Knight and we're so glad you're here. We're kicking things off with one of the biggest legislative developments we've seen in a while.

Michelle McCaw:

We're talking about the one big, beautiful bill which was signed into law on July 4th 2025. It brings some major changes to the way Americans access and manage their health care.

Amanda Knight:

It affects everything from Medicaid and work requirements to ACA enrollment rules and HSA expansions, and it's already starting to shift the way brokers and employers approach their benefit strategy, and that's exactly why we brought in Misty Baker, CRC Benefits Director of Compliance, to help us make sense of it all.

Michelle McCaw:

Misty is one of the most trusted names in the industry when it comes to compliance and, with years of experience in legislative interpretation, training and strategy, she's known for making complex topics feel approachable.

Amanda Knight:

And she may be familiar to you. She's a familiar face on the national speaking circuit and someone brokers genuinely turn to when they need real answers fast. We're excited to have her with us.

Michelle McCaw:

We definitely are, and after the main conversation we're going to take a quick look at what's coming next and then we'll wrap up with a fast three to help you get to know Misty just a little bit better.

Amanda Knight:

This is the CRC Benefits Podcast from CRC Group. This podcast features news and insights from those working with our vast network of 20,000 brokers to deliver employee benefits to more than 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses. Plus, we give you the latest information on what is happening at CRC. This is the CRC Benefits Podcast, and now the hosts of the podcast, michelle McCall and Amanda Knight.

Michelle McCaw:

All right, Misty, thank you so much for being here with us today.

Misty Baker:

It is a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Amanda Knight:

So Misty before we dive into the details, what was your very first thought when you read this bill? But even before you answer that, how many pages is this bill?

Misty Baker:

Well, it depends on which version you are looking at. That's the best part about legislation and how things get passed. So originally, when I read the House version in May so on May 22nd, the House initially passed its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act or, for those people who are really nerdy, it is HR1 in the House. And then in June, june 16th, the Senate released their own draft of the OBBBA See how I'm throwing acronyms in there. I love it.

Misty Baker:

Finally, the Senate actually goes back in late June actually three days in June, june 27th through the 30th and the Senate implements some revisions. Now the Senate has to do things a little bit differently than the House, because the Senate deals with more money issues, and so the parliamentarian in the Senate actually pulled some of the information out and said look, this is not germane to passing this bill. So they implemented their revisions in record time. Three days is really lightning fast for the Senate to move, wow. And then on July the 1st, the Senate passes the OBBBA. On July the 3rd, the House goes back and accepts the Senate version and then finally, on the 4th of July, right before the fireworks, president Trump signs the OBBBA into law. So yeah, I read both the Senate version and the House version and the revision version as well, and the house version and the revision version as well. So I did a lot of reading in June, that's for sure, and celebrating on July 4th Let freedom ring.

Amanda Knight:

That's right. That's right, no kidding.

Misty Baker:

What was your very first thought when you, after you read all three versions of this bill, my reaction was really a smidge of confusion, to be honest with you, because our broker partners, you know they often look to us for like what is in and what is out, and so we had to a little bit do some retraining and education for our broker partners because there were so many versions out there and so some people got tripped up a little bit. And so my initial reaction was okay, now I have all the data, I can put it in a usable form for our broker partners for them to use. And the second thing was I had to dispel so much information that was not included in the final version of the bill. But I mean honestly, as a former broker myself and a compliance person, I love some of these things that are in this bill. I think they're going to be really helpful to our brokers moving forward and moving ahead.

Michelle McCaw:

And Misty. Now that it is law, can you give us a high level overview of maybe the key provisions and what's effective today?

Misty Baker:

So there are essentially four key provisions of the OB-BBA or HR1, whatever you want to call it. Number one it extends telehealth benefits. And really, when we look at high deductible health plans, we know that you can't have a first dollar coverage on those high deductible health plans, right, if you want to have an HSA. So we got to rewind back to December 31st of 2024. We had COVID provisions that allowed telehealth to be paid for in those HSA or high deductible health plans. We had that, but that expired. That safe harbor expired on December 31st of 2024. So what we actually did, or what Congress actually did, is they extended the safe harbor permanently. So now you can have telehealth on a pre-deductible basis for patients enrolled in an HSA. I think that's really smart to have a lot of people access telehealth these days. I just accessed telehealth yesterday. So anyone with those high deductible health plans get that as part of their benefits now. So the other key provision is really these dependent care FSAs or flexible spending accounts. And so what? These FSAs? Effective January 1st of 2026, the OBBBA is going to increase that maximum annual limit for dependents to $7,500 for singled individuals and married couples filing jointly and $3750 for married individuals filing separately. So those numbers increased a little bit, from $5,000 to $7,500 and $2,500 to $3,750. Now keep in mind that we're used to inflation adjustments under the Affordable Care Act. This one does not have an inflation adjustment, so keep that in mind. The new numbers for 26 are $7,500 or $3,750.

Misty Baker:

Finally, these Trump accounts. Now I don't know if the name Trump account is going to stick or not. I'm not 100% sure about that. But what the OBBA actually did is to create a savings account, a tax advantage savings account for children under 18. And they're calling them Trump accounts for now. So, effective 1-1-2026, trump accounts are going to kind of look similar to an individual retirement account, an IRA, where their earnings grow tax deferred. So what we're generally looking at is an annual contribution limit of $5,000 per child. Now this one will be adjusted for inflation beginning in 2027. It also states under these Trump accounts that the children born between 2025 and 2028 may be eligible to receive a special $1,000 contribution from the federal government. So the way it works is like an employer may make a tax-free contribution to the Trump account of an employee or an employee's dependent of up to $2,500 per year. Again, we're adjusting for inflation on these, and then you know, just as a reminder, these are, you know, an effective tax advantage savings account. So you're going to have to have in place a written plan document. It will be subject to the same kind of things as tax rules of FSAs, so you have to make sure you're doing your annual non-discrimination testing and employee notifications. Now, the best part about Trump accounts is that we really have no idea what they look like or how they're going to operate or who's really going to do it just yet, but we're hoping as 2025 progresses we're going to get more information from the federal government on how these actually work and how to get that $1, more information from the federal government on how these actually work and how to get that $1,000 contribution from the federal government for your kids. So I think that's pretty cool.

Misty Baker:

We also see some individual market changes that are happening. We see stricter ACA pre-enrollment verification. So the old law said you have a 90-day window to produce your documentation okay, but the new law says you have to have verification of certain information prior to receiving that tax credit, that premium tax credit. So it's really important to remember that, if you're writing individual business, that you understand some of these newer pre-enrollment verifications. Also, we see that the enhanced ACA tax credits are going to expire at the end of this year. Now, that doesn't mean that individuals lose their health insurance. They still have the same health insurance, but there is no extension of that COVID enhanced tax credit. So what you'll see is people making between 100 and 400% of federal poverty level those tax credits will continue, but the enhanced tax credit of anyone making over 400% of FPO will be eliminated by the end of the year.

Misty Baker:

We also see some Medicaid changes and when we look at enrollment and eligibility, it's really important to know what some of those Medicaid changes will be.

Misty Baker:

There is a new 80-hour month work and then states really have to establish a process really to obtain beneficiary addresses, addresses.

Misty Baker:

So we look at you know we look at some limited expansion of Medicaid as well. So you want to make sure that if you are in touch with those folks, that you really educate them on what's coming up next. We see some qualified fringe benefits to things like bike commuter tax and there's some very small nuances on some of that. So if you're in a city where a lot of people are using those commuter benefits, those fringe benefits, you'd be able to help them a little bit and then paid family and medical leave tax credit. This gives the employer a tax credit for paid FMLA. That was set to expire at the end of 2025. But now OBBBA extends that expansion of tax credits for employers, including the clarification that state or local mandated benefits now count towards satisfying that eligibility requirement for the credit. You really need to speak to a CPA or a tax professional for them to see how this is going to impact their ability to really claim that tax credit at the end of 2025.

Amanda Knight:

That is a lot in OB3A. That's what I'm going to call it.

Misty Baker:

I'm going to call it OB3A.

Amanda Knight:

I don't know. It feels like a Star Wars character, so maybe HR1 is better. Yeah, all right. So when we think about all of that in this one, bill Misty, how are all of these changes most likely to impact the way brokers support their clients, both in terms of their planning strategy, but then also in just, you know, daily conversations?

Misty Baker:

So number one brokers have to educate themselves. We have got to make sure that brokers know what all these different provisions are and how it best can support their employer groups. That's number one. So educate yourself as a broker first. Secondly, it's time to go back to basics like FMLA that speak to things like these Trump accounts for kids. How or will an employer put money into these dependent FSAs? That's just a big question. So it's something that brokers need to educate themselves on and then really start speaking to these things with their clients as they're going through open enrollment and especially fourth quarter.

Michelle McCaw:

Absolutely, and that's not something that they should be waiting for. You know, 2027 and beyond. These are things they can be doing today.

Misty Baker:

Yeah, many of these provisions are either already in place or will start January 1st of 2026. So there's no time like the present to start planning and implementing and really thoughtfully speaking to your employer groups about how are we going to handle some of these things. Are we going to adopt dependent FSA? Are we going to offer that? You know just little tiny things like that. It's like a company culture. You really have to get on the same page. You know, one of the things I hear from employees sometimes is the lack of in-depth discussions when it comes to their employee benefits. Right, so many of us are just put on a platform and they say, ok, make your elections now. But really, really great employers are really developing what they want their company culture to look like when it comes to their employee benefits. You know, employee benefits cost employers so much. Let's make sure we're giving them their money's worth and really giving them the opportunity to take advantage of all of the benefits that are offered.

Amanda Knight:

Well, benefits can be confusing just in general right Healthcare benefits, the other kind of employee benefits available and can be intimidating to folks, not only to employees, but also, if you're not a giant organization, if you're a smaller employer, you're depending on that broker to really help you navigate big changes when it comes to something like new legislation. So I can definitely see why by making sure that you are getting ready early in advance is beneficial for a broker, but also for everybody down the chain, of course.

Michelle McCaw:

Absolutely. We work at employee benefits ourselves and it's hard to keep up and it's you know, it's constant questions about how the benefits work. So it is important for a broker to help the groups out for sure.

Amanda Knight:

So, before we move into our fast three, the final segment of today's episode, Misty can you give us a peek at what's coming next? What should brokers, what should our listeners have on their radar? What's coming?

Misty Baker:

next, what should brokers, what should our listeners, have on their radar? Well, number one, fourth quarter, is here. Don't be afraid, but it's here. We're all really good at fourth quarter now, which it seems like a blur. It's going to be a fast and furious nightmare of three months, but we all can stick in this together. So what should brokers be looking at?

Misty Baker:

We need to be looking on the horizon for new legislation. Probably not through the end of 2025. However, we still see lots of different things on the horizon, lots of different bills being filed, some on ICHRAS, some on PBM. So we're going to watch all of that. Legislatively.

Misty Baker:

What brokers need to be doing is really minding your basics right. Making sure that you have the technology to get these enrollment meetings done, making sure you have the resources available to you when you have a compliance question. That's where my department comes in, also just little things. Like you know, we have department comes in, also just little things. Like you know, we have Medicare notices time to go out in October, right? So we have little things coming up through the end of the year that you want to be paying attention to and we actually have resources for you. We have a checklist. We have a calendar for compliance, and so you just need to go to wwwcrcbenefitscom. You'll see all of our compliance tools. So if you have a question about when do I file a 5500? When is PCORI fees due, we have answers for you there on our website.

Michelle McCaw:

Absolutely. Thanks, misty. And there is so much to keep up on, so that is definitely a useful resource for sure, and I feel like at least I'm a little less in the dark than I was when we started, so that's awesome. I'm exactly the kind of direction our brokers need. So hey, now we're on to the fun part.

Misty Baker:

Wait, I was having a ton of fun talking about employee benefits. I don't know about you guys, but I'm in my happy place right now.

Amanda Knight:

Michelle and I were really just sitting here in awe that you could say oh BBA, like eight times and not mess it up. So that's more than I could do.

Misty Baker:

Good job Misty.

Amanda Knight:

All right. So now it's time for our fast three. These are quick, no prep questions, just whatever comes to mind, just for fun, because we're a fun group. Are you ready? Yeah, let's do it. All right, if you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Misty Baker:

Tacos hands down tacos crispy beef tacos yes.

Amanda Knight:

See, and I feel like tacos are a great answer because you can have all kinds of tacos. You could have the crispy beef tacos, breakfast tacos, dessert tacos, fish tacos it's unlimited. You were going healthy, I was going with like dessert, all right. Question number two If you could instantly master any skill or hobby outside compliance, slash insurance, what would you choose?

Misty Baker:

Hmm, okay, I'm a little stuck right now between being a dietitian and helping people learn how to eat healthy foods and like a yoga instructor, because who wants to? I mean, I want to be that. I feel like those go together Right, like I would like to master yoga or master nutrition.

Amanda Knight:

I'm not sure which one, yet Maybe master one and then master the other. I feel like two at once might be ambitious, that's true. That's true, but they go hand in hand.

Michelle McCaw:

Both are really good. Yeah, they really work together. They go together though.

Amanda Knight:

They do, they do. All right, Michelle.

Michelle McCaw:

Last question All right, what is the most unusual or memorable place you have ever visited? I know you travel and you get to go to some great places, so what is the most memorable?

Misty Baker:

I have to give you two answers, okay, because my heart is torn in two. That's fair. First one is Cozumel Mexico. My heart just relaxes while I'm there, and it's fair. First one is Cozumel Mexico. My heart just relaxes while I'm there, and it's beautiful. And it was one of my very it was one of my very first trips out of the country as an adult, so that was kind of groundbreaking for me. But the second place is a place called Bonanza Colorado and I spend quite a bit of time in Bonanza Colorado. It's an old mining town that was a boom in the 1880s and 90s and this is where I come to kind of reset myself and reset my mind and I come here to prepare for fourth quarter and so I really find a lot of peace here, hiking, looking at the you know hummingbirds and um, it, just it brings me so much joy, um, and so much confidence going into fourth quarter that I love to be here as well. I love that.

Michelle McCaw:

I think that's. Yeah, that's the perfect way to get ready for the fourth quarter craziness, I love that.

Misty Baker:

Yeah, fourth quarter, craziness is a real thing.

Amanda Knight:

Well, misty, we're so thankful that you joined us today, and we know we'll talk to you many more times on the CRC Benefit Check podcast, but we're glad you could join us on the first episode.

Misty Baker:

This was super fun. Thanks for having me.