Features that qualify as ACA ‘excepted benefits;’ VSP partners with Google; and a N.C. health facility wins an Emmy: 3 things to know this week in employee benefits

IRS releases details on ‘excepted benefits’ from ACA mandates

After the government rolled back the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate over the July 4 holiday, it shouldn’t be a surprise that it released on Christmas Eve guidelines around which benefits would qualify as “excepted” from ACA regulations.

So, in case you missed it during your merrymaking, law firms Jenner & Block and Faegre Baker Daniels have helped break down what employers need to know. Among the IRS guidelines, plans are considered “excepted benefits” if:

• A self-insured plan permits participants to opt-out and charges enrollees a separate premium.
• Wraparound coverage only wraps around coverage provided through the exchange marketplace, not be an “integral part” of a group health plan, accounting for less than 15% of the coverage provided by a primary plan that meets ACA’s affordability and minimum value standards.
• An employee assistance program does not provide “significant benefits in the nature of medical care,” isn’t coordinated with group health benefits and is available to participants at no cost.

Google Glass partners with VSP

When you first saw Google Glass, perhaps you wanted to buy a pair but thought they’d be hard to find, hard to afford or both. Maybe employees thought the same.

However, now through a partnership between tech giant Google and vision benefits giant VSP, Google Glass prescription lenses and frames will be available at a subsidized price, reports Employee Benefit News.

While only a hand-chosen few currently have access to Google Glass (Google has selected the first users of the computerized eyewear through its “Glass Explorer” program), the company tells EBN that it’s “moving towards a wider consumer launch later in 2014.”

That wider launch could almost surely be aided by greater affordability, made possible through the partnership with VSP, the nation’s largest vision care benefits provider.

This week’s hidden gem: N.C. health facility wins an Emmy

What do Bryan Cranston, Amy Poehler and UNC Health Care have in common? All three are Emmy winners!

News this week from Health Care Communication News reveals that congratulations are in order for UNC Health Care, which was honored with an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Nashville/Midsouth region for its short film “Spartan!”

The touching five-minute video follows the UNC HC bone marrow transplant team as they work together to serve patients and train together to conquer a local obstacle course called the Spartan Race. It’s impossible to miss the parallels between the ancient Spartan 300 and the modern-day small-but-mighty UNC team as they work daily to support one another and their patients.