ST. PAUL — Minnesota lawmakers kept MinnesotaCare intact but not without a cost that will trickle down to some of the more than 100,000 low-income residents on the program in the form of higher monthly premiums starting in August.

The increases kicking in Saturday vary based on income, and those making less than 150 percent of federal poverty level — roughly $17,600 for a single adult — will escape the increases altogether. But others will see bill increases from as low as an extra $8 a month to as much as an additional $30, according to a letter from the Department of Human Services sent to lawmakers earlier this month.

And by January, those rises will be coupled with undetermined increases to co-pays, deductibles and other charges.

The increases were part of the state’s new health care budget passed this year, a way to shore up a historically volatile funding mechanism and compromise with Republicans who sought to do away with MinnesotaCare altogether.

MinnesotaCare enrollees and advocates of the program are still weighing the satisfaction of maintaining the program against the increased costs contained in a new health care budget. And there’s the lingering question of the program’s future as its main funding source is set to expire by the end of the decade.