Health insurance costs going up, again

The certainty about health insurance is that rates will rise. How steep that incline becomes, though, is anyone’s guess.

The rates are all going up starting Monday, but for those relying on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual market, it’s a whopping 24.1 percent hike for Kaiser Permanente members and 19.8 percent for those enrolled through Hawaii Medical Service Association.

Now that the ACA individual mandate has been repealed as part of the tax cut law, there’s reason to worry whether Congress will act, as promised, to stabilize the market. Uncertainty prevails again.

Time for realistic New Year’s resolutions

For many, it’s time for that annual ritual: the making of New Year’s resolutions. And for an estimated 42 to 92 percent (depending on the metrics weighed), those resolutions will end in failure. But hope springs eternal, right?

Data analysis by the personal finance website, WalletHub, finds Seattle as the best city for keeping New Year’s resolutions, followed by San Francisco, San Diego, Scottsdale, Ariz. then Salt Lake City. The bottom three? Gulfport, Miss. (No. 182); Shreveport, La. (181); and Newark, N.J. (180).

Honolulu came in at No. 34; not bad. Read the analysis at 808ne.ws/ 2DiWxoh.