Category: Cost of Living
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Providence Health Plan will discontinue individual and family policies on January 1, forcing members to re-shop
Providence Health Plan is leaving the individual health insurance market, and the date on the calendar is close. Policies sold to individuals and families will be discontinued on January 1, which forces every member of those plans to re-shop for coverage that begins with the new year. The insurer has not said how many people…
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Washington regulators approved an average 22.2 percent increase on 2027 Exchange individual health plans affecting 281,055 people
Washington’s Office of the Insurance Commissioner has approved an average rate increase of 22.2 percent for the 2027 Exchange health insurance market, a shade under the 22.4 percent that insurers asked for. The office counts 281,055 people as affected by the rate changes across the approved plans. Both figures describe the state’s Exchange market as…
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Rhode Island Energy is set to credit $14.51 a month to each active electric account from October and $51.55 a month to each active gas account from December
Rhode Island Energy has told state regulators exactly how it will return roughly $175 million to its customers, and the mechanics are simpler than most utility refunds: a flat line on the bill, no form, no application. Electric accounts are scheduled to start seeing $14.51 a month with the October billing cycle, while gas accounts…
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Rents are lower than a year ago in 46 of the 100 largest cities
Apartment List’s September 2026 national rent report holds a count that cuts against the usual rent story: of the 100 largest U.S. cities, 46 show lower rents than a year earlier. The company published the report on September 29, 2026, and it covers September data. The 46 is Apartment List’s own tally from its own…
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NEADA says households owe about $23 billion on their utility bills heading into winter
About one in six U.S. households is already behind on its utility bills as winter nears, and the unpaid balances add up to nearly $23 billion. Shutoffs have followed missed payments on a vast scale: in 2024, utilities cut off residential electric service about 13.4 million times and natural gas service about 1.7 million times.…
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Customs suspended the $800 duty-free limit and a $40 overseas parcel can now carry duty
A package worth $800 or less used to cross the border without duty, which meant a $40 trinket ordered from an overseas seller usually arrived with no customs bill. That changed in June. U.S. Customs and Border Protection published two interim final rules on June 24, 2026, indefinitely suspending the exemption in 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C)…
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USDA’s September forecast for 2027 food prices is a 2.0 percent rise on a range from minus 2.7 to 7 percent
Grocery and restaurant prices in 2027 are forecast to rise 2.0 percent over the year, but the government economists who made the call attach a forecast interval running from a 2.7 percent decline to a 7.0 percent increase. That range is the real content of the forecast. A midpoint of 2.0 percent describes the center…
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Zillow says renting beats buying by $12,792 a year nationally, and wins in all 50 big metros
A modelled comparison from Zillow, published September 16, 2026, puts a dollar figure on the gap between renting and buying: $12,792 a year in favor of the renter, measured on a national basis. The same analysis finds that in each of the 50 largest U.S. metros the typical rent is lower than the typical monthly…
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HUD is selling reverse mortgages on dead borrowers’ homes without FHA insurance and bids close October 27
Bids for roughly 4,200 reverse mortgage loans that HUD holds on vacant homes are due before 1:00 p.m. Eastern on October 27, 2026. The sale, called HVLS 2027-1, covers loans with a combined balance of about $1.3 billion, and the Federal Register notice that announced it states one term that sets it apart from ordinary…
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Federal flood insurance loses its authority on December 11 and nearly 4.5 million policies ride on it
Section 139 of a stopgap spending law moved the expiration of the National Flood Insurance Program’s authority from September 30 to December 11, 2026, which leaves a little over two months before Congress has to act again. The Congressional Research Service says the program insures nearly 4.5 million policies, a count it takes from FEMA…