Private health insurance premiums jumped by almost 11 per cent last year even as providers cut the level of cover offered by many plans, according to data from the Health Insurance Authority, which says insurers appear to be targeting older customers by specifically reducing the level of orthopaedic cover offered, including for joint replacement surgery. Conor Pope has the details.Ulster Bank is on track to repay just one-third of the €17.3 billion spent by the UK on bailing it out in the financial crisis, writes Joe Brennan as new figures show the company that now contains the remains of the bank reported a net loss of €53 million for last year. It also spent €56 million on “customer remediation” for legacy issues – largely overcharging on mortgage interest.Sticking with banks, fears that the tax-efficient personal savings and investment accounts planned by Minister for Finance Simon Harris might dent their profitability are overdone, according to an analysis by Goodbody Stockbrokers.In the food sector, wholesaler BWGO’Brien’s, which operates the Spar, Mace and Londis convenience chains in Ireland, has acquired some of the State’s best-known restaurant brands including O’Briens Cafe, Abrakebabra and Bagel Factory, writes Colin Gleeson.Groceries, meanwhile, now cost over 5 per cent more than this time last year, new figures from Worldpanel by Numerator suggest, the slowest rate of inflation since last summer, with shoppers stocking up on sun creams, ice creams, antipasti and sparkling wines as the days got warmer and longer. Conor Pope looks at the numbers.It says something about the state of our current home planet, writes John McManus, that the sort of values-free megalomaniacal nonsense being spouted by Elon Musk’s Space X ahead of its planned stock market flotation is not laughed out of court. But good for Musk, he says, if he can convince fools to part with their money for a stake in a company that overall does not make a profit, has $29 billion in debt and is held together by a rather strange individual’s messianic desire to conquer Mars.Speaking of softening people up, central bankers have been easing us towards acceptance of a hike in interest rates when they meet in Frankfurt next week. Assuming Irish banks follow suit, it will drive up the cost of your mortgage, writes Joanne Hunt. She has some advice for homeowners on making sure they are getting the best interest rate available.Activist short seller Andrew Left, who ran Citron Research, has been convicted of fraud in a US trial that could have wide-ranging consequences for investors publishing market commentary. Left was accused of making at least $16 million in profits from a “long-running market manipulation scheme”.Electric vehicles of one sort or another now account for almost two-thirds of all new car sales in Ireland, according to figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, with pure electric vehicle registrations doubling in May. Michael McAleer reports.In our Work Q&A, a teacher who is recovering from breast cancer and is expecting a child this summer wants to know can she claim maternity benefit alongside her existing invalidity pension payment.A fully-let scheme of 24 apartments above the Lidl supermarket in Rathmines, providing secure income of €436,000 a year out to 2033, is on the market with a guide price of €8.5 million, writes Ronald Quinlan.And specialist small and medium-sized business financier BCF Lending is backing the expansion of The Quays shopping centre in Newry, Co Down with a loan of around €9.25 million. Barry O’Halloran has the details.Kilshane Energy has lodged plans for a 680MW gas-fired “flexible peaking power plant” for a site close to the M50 in north Dublin to provide a reliable source of backup generation at times of high electricity demand and low renewable electricity supply, writes Gordon Deegan.Finally, renewable energy solutions group Greenvolt Next is almost doubling its staff over the next 12 months, recruiting 90 people in Ireland and Britain as part of an ambitious expansion plan. Conor Healy reports.If you’d like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money, the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.