North Bay Business Journal

Health insurance brokers, employers and individuals are all eagerly awaiting full-scale implementation of the California Health Benefits Exchange, a centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act, but it’s still anyone’s guess as to what it will look.

While details of what the exchange, also known as Covered California, will look like have emerged recently, a key piece of just how effective it will has not yet been determined: the monthly premiums for plans that will be offered to individuals and employers.

Partnership Health Plan of California, a Fairfield-based managed Medi-Cal plan, has petitioned the state for further expansion, hoping to include Lake and six other Northern California counties, in addition to the six North Coast counties already in its network. …

Woodruff Sawyer & Co. of Novato is holding an seminar to discuss health care reform for employers, with subject matter including compliance with the Affordable Care Act, the California State Exchange and private exchanges, benefit design strategies, major employer issues for 2014, and other matters. …

Kristina Keck has joined Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. in the firm’s employee benefits practice as account executive, retirement plans. …

Covered California, the state’s insurance exchange set up under health care reform, plans to provide grants totaling $43 million for community groups to help spread the world of the exchange and how it will work. …

Insurance experts have questioned whether the penalty levied on individuals and business for not obtaining health insurance as part of the Affordable Care Act would be enough of an incentive, but a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that would be. …

Insurance carriers and brokers are seeing increased demand in policies specifically tailored to cover an employer in the event of a data breach, a risk that is increasingly common as more and more business moves online for small and large employers alike.

Workers’ compensation insurance rates are continuing to climb upward, as the cost of health care and increasing medical utilization drives up premiums for employers throughout the state, according to brokers in the North Bay.

NOVATO — Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company announced it would further expand its North American entertainment division by partnering with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, an Allianz affiliate company in Canada.

George Petersen Insurance Agency completed its move from one College Ave. location in Santa Rosa to another, at 175 West College Ave. last week, which was the result of the company absorbing NorthWest Insurance in 2010.

Questions for Bill Merget and Victor McKnight, Principals, EPIC Insurance: What do you see as the trends in business insurance for 2012? What trends do you see in employee benefits for 2012, in cost and in design? What issues are clients asking about most often and what are you telling them?

CALIFORNIA — Kaiser Permanente said today that two of its Medicare plans in California received an overall rating of five stars from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services for the year 2012.

A much-debated poll recently predicted a majority of companies likely would drop employee health insurance as a result of the impending federal health care overhaul. Despite the controversy, North Bay insurance experts say businesses must grapple with coverage questions at the heart of the poll results now rather than waiting until the rules take effect.