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Show Medicare premiums will increase in July Starting with July 1978, the basic premium for the medical insurance part of Medicare will increase to $8.20 a month, up from the $7.70 it has been since July 1977, John Wain-wright, Wain-wright, social security district dis-trict manager in Grand Junction said today. People who pay the premium directly will notice no-tice the increase in their bills. People who have the premium deducted from their social security check probably will not notice the increase because of the much larger increase in their social security check as a result of the cost of living increase that goes into effect with July checks. Some people pay a higher amount than the basic premium. This is because there was a period per-iod of 13 months or more that they were eligible for medical insurance, but were not enrolled for this protection. The increase in the basic prem:am amounts am-ounts to 10 percent for each such 12-month period. per-iod. Even with this slight increase, medical insurance insur-ance represents a real buy. This is because the people pay only about 30 I percent of the cost while the Federal Government I pays the remaining 70 I percent from general revenues. rev-enues. The basic premium will remain S8.20 a month I through June 1979. |