North Bay Business Journal

While California’s insurance industry awaits the results of recently enacted reforms in the workers compensation world, employer premiums will likely still face upward pressure for most of 2013 as implementation takes shape, insurance experts said.

In its first month since getting state approval for expansion last fall, Sacramento-based HMO Western Health Advantage said it has enrolled some 750 persons into new employer health plans across Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties.

As full-scale implementation of health care reform nears ever closer, looming heavy on the minds of employers, insurers and health care providers, questions continue to swirl around numerous key issues, with California’s online health exchanges high among the heart-burn causing measures.