Obamacare's early impact on CA hospital earnings

Obamacare's insurance mandates are starting to shade the quarterly financial reports of local health providers, but experts say it is too early to see the whole picture with clarity. On Jan. 1, the Affordable Care Act brought the individual mandate, the requirement that most Americans have medical insurance or pay a fine. Layered on top of that broad stroke, and arriving around the new year, was the expansion of Medi-Cal, the state's health insurance for its most financially fragile and disadvantaged residents. Those sweeping changes, at least in the early going anyway, appear to have been a mixed bag for local health providers.