California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones (D) has recommended an average pure premium rate for the state workers' compensation program that is lower than the state Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau's proposal, the Central Valley Business Times reports.

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber may not have been a household name, at least before this week, despite his being described as the "architect" of Obamacare and, previously, Romneycare in Massachusetts.

After statewide rallies and demands from the nurses' union this week, the California Department of Public Health and Cal-OSHA have posted updated Ebola mandates for hospitals that go beyond federal standards to ensure that at-risk employees are provided with proper training and personal protective equipment.

Covered California officials this week are on a bus tour across the state -- stumping Thursday in La Habra and making multiple stops Friday in Los Angeles -- in preparation for Saturday's launch of the exchange's second open enrollment period.

Smooth sailing. The administration promises and outside experts expect that this year's open enrollment period on the health insurance marketplaces will be markedly less glitchy and balky than last.

Small-business enrollment on new insurance marketplaces set up under the president's health-care law has fallen well short of the administration's expectations, according to government report released Thursday.