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Show tJ ff llI What It Will Mean to You f SLiiir - if 71 4, I I - n V 1 v r? ''ait. LAST J APRIL a 67-year-- jnan died after an emergency operation. He had been in the hospital only 22 hours, but when his widow received a till for medical services it amounted to a staggering $1,730.55! Situations like this are not uncommon. With the cost of health care mounting year after year, a single major illness could wipe out a coulast But July pie's entire savings. Congress enacted Medicare, a program of health insurance for the aged that will affect the lives of not only the 18 million Americans 65 or older who will benefit directly but millions of young adults who once faced the crushing cost of caring for aged parents. Specifically,, what will Medicare mean to you? First, it will mean new taxes for those still paying into Social Security. Medicare will cost $3.7 billion the first year it is in operation and more in succeeding years. In 1966 deyour maximum Social Security duction will go from $174 to $27720, with $23.10 of this amount ear marked for Medicare. Your employer's contribution will increase the same amount. In futur years, the Social Security deduction will go as high as $372.90, with $49.80 paid to Medicare. To finance benefits to people not covered by Social Security, the government will also have to chip in an estimated $290 million a year at the start For increased Social Security taxes, you will get a basic program of hosbenefits at pital and nursing-hom- e the age of 65. As in private hospitalization plans, you still must take care of doctor bills. For most persons 65 or older, this basic plan of paid-u- p insurance gives protection for: 1. Up to 90 days of hospital care during each spell of illness. You pay the first $40 of hospital costs and then nothing else for the first 60 days; after that, until you reach the . 1 , . 1 I 11" 'J? . iiimiH " , - 1 I -. Famil Weekly, September iff, 196S |