Honolulu's Strategic Housing Plan pinpoints six key initiatives

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2 days ago

Yahoo

Oʻahu racetrack gets the green light

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The City and County of Honolulu was given the green light for a racetrack in West Oʻahu. Plans in the works for 2 West Oahu racetracks The former Navy land near Kalaeloa Airport has been a discussion since the late 90s, and officials said the track will start small before eventually expanding. 'It feels like a dream, it's been 26 years,' said long-time race track supporter and enthusiast Li Cobian. Cobian said plans to acquire the land go back to Mayor Jeremy Harris back in 1998. 'If it wasn't for Rick Blangiardi and managing director Mike Formby, this would never have happened, I feel like crying,' Cobian added. On Thursday evening, Mayor Blangiardi told a crowd at his last Town Hall of the year that the Parks and Recreation director received an e-mail earlier in the day that said they had approval to use the land. 'This is something we made a commitment to because there is a big, big interest across the island in auto sports,' he told community members at the town hall. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news Honolulu is the only county without a race track, which Mayor Blangiardi says results in more drivers speeding on roads and highways. Four-hundred acres were transferred to the city by the National Park Service in June 2024. 'The National Park Service has agreed to let us do an interim use for the 20-acre lot out at Kalaeloa for a motor sports recreation use,' explained Parks Director Laura Thielen. The plan for the track stretches from Coral Sea Road and Independence Road down to Kalaeloa Airport. For now, Thielen says they can build a dirt style track. 'And that can happen concurrent while we go through with a master plan for the overall area,' she explained during the town hall meeting. Cobian says the park service recognizing motor sports as recreation helped move the process along. The city said the racetrack is intended to be an interim facility while it works on developing a master plan for all 400-acres.'Phase 1 is this parcel area which is 22.9 acres,' Cobian showed KHON2 while pointing towards parcels on the Kalaeloa Airport side of the road. 'Phase 2 is this whole area down almost a mile and it's close to 200 acres,' he added while pointing to the opposite side of the road. Nearby residents said they are concerned about noise, traffic and safety as the city says there are many trespassers in the area. Cobian says most are homeless. City crews were seen putting in concrete barriers to block access into parts of the wooded area. 'We got a lot of homeless and they're constantly dumping trash,' Cobian said. 'So the sooner we get out here and break ground and clean everything up, put some fences up, we're going to deter all of that.' Cobian stated it will also prevent fires in the area. The City says it has requested funds in the upcoming fiscal year 2026 budget for the master plan which will include public input. The City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation said it has allocated $1.8 million in the upcoming budget for consultant services to help develop that Master Plan. DPR said it also appropriated $150,000 for on guard services to reduce illegal activity in the area, and $500,000 in CIP funds to renovate and reopen the bathrooms at the Kalaeloa Campgrounds. Check out more news from around Hawaii This half a million dollars with also assist with shoreline improvements to reduce illegal off-roading on White Sands Beach in collaboration with 808 Cleanups. The city adds the Master Plan will include robust public input, along with environmental and cultural assessments. The permanent racetrack location and layout will be determined through that Master Plan, and may be in another area near this interim location. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

3 reasons your Obamacare premiums are going up next year

Yahoo

2 days ago

Yahoo

3 reasons your Obamacare premiums are going up next year

If you happen to be one of the roughly 24 million people in America who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces, you're probably in for some sticker shock next year. Many families could be on the hook for hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of dollars more in premium payments thanks to the expiration of Biden-era coverage subsidies. A little-talked-about change in the GOP's tax bill could also bump up costs by ending a practice among insurers known as 'silver loading,' which juiced the amount of financial help households could qualify for when buying a health plan. Meanwhile, higher premiums and new red tape contained in the GOP's bill are expected to push younger, healthier customers out of the market. As a result, carriers are already signaling their intention to raise their rates by more than usual next year to deal with the cost of a smaller and sicker customer base. Here's what you need to know about the potential triple whammy. The Biden administration temporarily upgraded the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by offering insurance shoppers much larger tax credits to help them buy coverage. Those changes dropped some premiums to zero and decreased out-of-pocket costs for lower-income families, and for the first time, capped monthly payments for households earning more than 400% of the poverty line, limiting costs to 8.5% of their income. The enhanced insurance subsidies are set to expire next year, which means premiums will spike. As the Urban Institute calculated last year, that could leave some lower-income households paying 80% more. People with incomes above 400% of the poverty line — $62,000 for an individual, or $128,000 for a family of four — will no longer receive any help. This year, that would have meant paying an extra $2,900, according to Urban's calculations. These changes are going to be particularly important for freelancers and small-business owners who tend to rely on the individual insurance market, as well as service industry workers who don't receive health coverage through their jobs. For most of this past decade, many marketplace customers have been able to get a free bronze plan or very cheap gold-level coverage courtesy of a quirk that developed after Trump tried to cut funding to Obamacare during his first term. Those days will likely soon be over, thanks to the new tax bill. The backstory is a bit technical: Under the ACA, lower-income households who buy coverage from the marketplace get big discounts that shrink their out-of-pocket expenses like copays and deductibles. The federal government was supposed to pay insurers directly to cover these so-called 'cost-sharing reductions.' But Trump cut off that flow of payments in 2017, seizing on what was essentially a legal hole in the Affordable Care Act after Republicans failed to repeal the statute. The president's move was expected to seriously weaken the markets. Instead, states and insurers found a workaround known as silver loading that made coverage cheaper for many Americans while adding to the federal government's expense. Rather than try to make up for the lost payments by upping the prices of all of their health plans, carriers only increased the cost of the silver plans that are used to calculate the value of the tax credits enrollees could receive. This allowed insurers to recoup their costs and increased the subsidies that households were eligible for, with the side effect that people could suddenly get free bronze or cheaper gold insurance. As part of their tax and spending bill, Republicans are planning to save some money by restoring the old cost-sharing reduction payments. In essence, they'll be restoring this aspect of the Affordable Care Act to how it was originally supposed to work, but it will also make the law's tax credits a bit less generous and kill the option of buying those super-cheap bronze or gold plans. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy The coming cuts to Obamacare's subsidies are expected to lead many young and healthier enrollees to drop their coverage. The same goes for parts of the GOP bill that will likely make buying and maintaining ACA coverage more difficult, such as ending the ability to automatically re-enroll in your health plan from year to year. As a result, experts anticipate that insurers will have to increase the unsubsidized price of coverage by more than usual this coming year, since older, sicker patients cost more to insure. Already, there are signs of that happening. According to a review by the think tank KFF, insurers in Vermont, Oregon, Washington, and Washington, D.C., are requesting an additional 4% increase in their rates for next year, specifically because they expect the market to shrink when Biden's enhanced subsidies expire. Those price hikes won't affect households that get subsidized coverage, which caps their premium payments at a share of their income. But they will be felt by households that earn above 400% of the poverty mark, since they'll no longer receive tax credits. If you're middle-income and self-employed, be prepared for a big pop in your insurance bill. Jordan Weissmann is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Yahoo

2 days ago

Yahoo

3 reasons your Obamacare premiums are going up next year

If you happen to be one of the roughly 24 million people in America who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces, you're probably in for some sticker shock next year. Many families could be on the hook for hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of dollars more in premium payments thanks to the expiration of Biden-era coverage subsidies. A little-talked-about change in the GOP's tax bill could also bump up costs by ending a practice among insurers known as 'silver loading,' which juiced the amount of financial help households could qualify for when buying a health plan. Meanwhile, higher premiums and new red tape contained in the GOP's bill are expected to push younger, healthier customers out of the market. As a result, carriers are already signaling their intention to raise their rates by more than usual next year to deal with the cost of a smaller and sicker customer base. Here's what you need to know about the potential triple whammy. The Biden administration temporarily upgraded the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by offering insurance shoppers much larger tax credits to help them buy coverage. Those changes dropped some premiums to zero and decreased out-of-pocket costs for lower-income families, and for the first time, capped monthly payments for households earning more than 400% of the poverty line, limiting costs to 8.5% of their income. The enhanced insurance subsidies are set to expire next year, which means premiums will spike. As the Urban Institute calculated last year, that could leave some lower-income households paying 80% more. People with incomes above 400% of the poverty line — $62,000 for an individual, or $128,000 for a family of four — will no longer receive any help. This year, that would have meant paying an extra $2,900, according to Urban's calculations. These changes are going to be particularly important for freelancers and small-business owners who tend to rely on the individual insurance market, as well as service industry workers who don't receive health coverage through their jobs. For most of this past decade, many marketplace customers have been able to get a free bronze plan or very cheap gold-level coverage courtesy of a quirk that developed after Trump tried to cut funding to Obamacare during his first term. Those days will likely soon be over, thanks to the new tax bill. The backstory is a bit technical: Under the ACA, lower-income households who buy coverage from the marketplace get big discounts that shrink their out-of-pocket expenses like copays and deductibles. The federal government was supposed to pay insurers directly to cover these so-called 'cost-sharing reductions.' But Trump cut off that flow of payments in 2017, seizing on what was essentially a legal hole in the Affordable Care Act after Republicans failed to repeal the statute. The president's move was expected to seriously weaken the markets. Instead, states and insurers found a workaround known as silver loading that made coverage cheaper for many Americans while adding to the federal government's expense. Rather than try to make up for the lost payments by upping the prices of all of their health plans, carriers only increased the cost of the silver plans that are used to calculate the value of the tax credits enrollees could receive. This allowed insurers to recoup their costs and increased the subsidies that households were eligible for, with the side effect that people could suddenly get free bronze or cheaper gold insurance. As part of their tax and spending bill, Republicans are planning to save some money by restoring the old cost-sharing reduction payments. In essence, they'll be restoring this aspect of the Affordable Care Act to how it was originally supposed to work, but it will also make the law's tax credits a bit less generous and kill the option of buying those super-cheap bronze or gold plans. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy The coming cuts to Obamacare's subsidies are expected to lead many young and healthier enrollees to drop their coverage. The same goes for parts of the GOP bill that will likely make buying and maintaining ACA coverage more difficult, such as ending the ability to automatically re-enroll in your health plan from year to year. As a result, experts anticipate that insurers will have to increase the unsubsidized price of coverage by more than usual this coming year, since older, sicker patients cost more to insure. Already, there are signs of that happening. According to a review by the think tank KFF, insurers in Vermont, Oregon, Washington, and Washington, D.C., are requesting an additional 4% increase in their rates for next year, specifically because they expect the market to shrink when Biden's enhanced subsidies expire. Those price hikes won't affect households that get subsidized coverage, which caps their premium payments at a share of their income. But they will be felt by households that earn above 400% of the poverty mark, since they'll no longer receive tax credits. If you're middle-income and self-employed, be prepared for a big pop in your insurance bill. Jordan Weissmann is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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Oʻahu racetrack gets the green light

3 reasons your Obamacare premiums are going up next year

3 reasons your Obamacare premiums are going up next year

Honolulu's Strategic Housing Plan pinpoints six key initiatives

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Oʻahu racetrack gets the green light

3 reasons your Obamacare premiums are going up next year

3 reasons your Obamacare premiums are going up next year

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