Main Street Dollars

—

by

Stand at the meat case this week and three price tags tell three different stories. Ground beef is pushing toward $7 a pound. A few feet away, pork chops and chicken breast have barely budged all year. That gap isn’t random, and it isn’t a store-by-store fluke — it’s almost exactly what the U.S. Department…

Next year’s grocery forecast is 2.1 percent, with an error band running from minus 5.7 to plus 10.5 percent

—

by

in Groceries & Gas

USDA’s Economic Research Service puts next year’s grocery price increase at 2.1 percent. Read one paragraph further in the same August 25 update and that tidy number turns into a range: food-at-home prices could fall 5.7 percent in 2027, or they could climb 10.5 percent, and either outcome would still count as the forecast working…

A 50 percent duty on Canadian whisky, cheese and vehicles has been collected since August 22

—

by

in Groceries & Gas

If you buy a bottle of Canadian whisky, a wedge of Canadian cheese, or a car built in Ontario, the importer bringing it across the border has been paying an extra 50 cents on every dollar of that item’s value since August 22. That cost does not stay with the importer. It works its way…

The White House opened a 300,000-ton import window for lean beef trimmings, and the first tranche opened September 1

—

by

in Groceries & Gas

If you’ve watched ground beef climb past $6 a pound at the checkout counter, the federal government just made a bet that flooding the market with 300,000 more metric tons of imported lean beef trimmings will pull that number back down. The first chunk of that supply, 100,000 metric tons, became available to importers on…

One Indianapolis silver plan went from $316 a month to $546 in two years

—

by

In 2025, a 40-year-old earning $65,000 a year in Indianapolis paid $316 a month for an Anthem silver plan after a federal tax credit brought the price down. This year, with that credit gone, the same plan costs $477 a month. Insurers have now filed rates for 2027 that would push it to $546 —…

Insurers told regulators in writing that about four points of next year’s increase is the expired subsidy

—

by

Insurance companies do not usually explain their price increases in public. This year they have, in writing, to state regulators — and in filing after filing for 2027, they point at the same cause for roughly four percentage points of the increase: the enhanced premium tax credits that expired at the end of 2025. That…

Two states have published final 2027 health insurance decisions, at 21.6 and 17.2 percent

—

by

Oregon’s insurance regulator locked in a 21.6 percent average rate increase for its individual health insurance market on August 18. Delaware’s regulator followed on September 4, approving a 17.2 percent increase for its largest marketplace insurer. Both numbers are final decisions, not the opening asks insurance companies filed months ago. If you buy your own…

The VA is telling home loan borrowers who lost a job that foreclosure is not automatic

—

by

in Housing & Rent

A veteran who loses a job and falls behind on a VA-backed mortgage does not automatically lose the house — that is the message the Department of Veterans Affairs is putting directly in front of borrowers this month. VA says a missed payment starts a process a homeowner can still work through, not an ending.…

HealthCare.gov still lists January 15 as the last day to enroll, whatever the December 15 warnings say

—

by

Marcus Webb’s insurance broker in Toledo has fielded the same panicked phone call four times this week: a client who saw a headline saying the government shrank Open Enrollment down to December 15 this year, and wanted to lock in a plan before it was “too late.” It isn’t too late. HealthCare.gov’s own site, checked…

Insurers in all 50 states are asking for a median 15 percent increase on marketplace plans next year

—

by