CRC Benefits Podcast

Paid family and medical leave is expanding fast, and the hardest part for employers isn't learning one state's rule. It's realizing how quickly the planning window closes once a workforce crosses state lines. Kaleb Bledsoe, CRC Benefits' National Ancillary Practice Leader, joins us to unpack where PFML stands today and why it now belongs at the center of benefits planning, not...

A client brings up a PEO before you do and suddenly you are playing defense, walking into a story someone else already wrote. We dig into why that’s happening more often right now and how benefits brokers can keep their place as the trusted advisor when a professional employer organization enters the chat early. The big shift we’re seeing is not hype, it’s pressure: HR complexity, multi-state comp...

The fastest way to get burned in benefits compliance is believing a notice “counts” just because it was sent. We sit down with Misty Baker, our Director of Compliance and Government Affairs, to talk about why required notices break down in the real world and what brokers and employers can do to make the message actually stick. We get practical about the pressure points: COBRA timing (including the...

We sit down with Dan Kueter, CEO of UnitedHealthcare’s commercial business, to unpack small-group cost pressures and explore how employers can counter trend with level funding and more transparent, tech-enabled benefits plan design. UnitedHealthcare’s Surest health plan offers a clear path to lower costs and a better consumer experience. In this episode, Dan gives a deep dive on how Surest is buil...

Payroll tangles, patchwork compliance, and vendor sprawl can quietly drain a growing company. We sit down with CRC’s PEO leaders, Rob Schlossberg and Ari Wind, to map out when a professional employer organization unlocks simpler operations, stronger benefits, and fewer risks—and when it doesn’t. If your clients have multi-state teams, rising admin load, or employees asking for richer plans like IV...

If the phrase one-size-fits-all makes you wince, this conversation will feel like a breath of fresh air. We sit down with Patti Reimer to unpack how Individual Coverage HRAs (ICHRAs) turn rigid group plans into flexible, budget-friendly benefits that employees actually want to use. Instead of forcing everyone into the same carrier and network, ICHRAs let employers set a defined contribution while...

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 ri...