| Publication: | news.com.au |
|---|---|
| Date: | 19 February 2010 |
| Section: | Money & Me |
HEALTH premiums are tipped to rise by an estimated 6-7 per cent this year, or up to $195 for a family.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said customers shouldn't expect good news when she reveals the 2010 private health insurance premium rises next week.
"We've been able to go through a negotiation process of saying 'no, that's too high'," she said.
"But I do, unfortunately, have to say to the public there's never really good news in these."
The Minister said the Government had forensically examined proposed fee rises by insurers after a 6.02 per cent rise last year.
It's believed a dozen health funds were told to go back to the drawing board and reassess their cases.
But the industry has warned of tough conditions for insurers, who have been hit with rising costs as medical technology improves.
The sector's independent regulator recently reported a 10 per cent jump in payouts by the funds in the past financial year.
Australian Health Insurance Association chief executive Michael Armitage said premium rises were always kept to a minimum when compared to rising costs.
"There is a history of the premium increases going up by 3-4 per cent less than the benefit outlays," he said.
"No one likes paying out more, but when you point out to people that the benefits they are receiving in one year have increased by 10 per cent, they tend to say 'I don't like it, but I understand'."
A 6-7 per cent premium rise would lift the cost of comprehensive family cover, without extras, from about $2772 to $2966 a year. A similar rise would push up the cost of cover for singles by $96 a year.
Ms Roxon said her job was to ensure the pain felt by customers was kept to a minimum.
She said she refused to "tick and flick" health fund requests, saving customers 0.27 per cent in 2008 and 0.41 per cent last year.
Premiums had risen by an average of 6.63 per cent in the last five years of the Howard government, Ms Roxon said.
Health costs are rising faster than the base rate of inflation because of rapidly improving medical technology and improving life expectancy.
According to the Private Health Insurance Administration Council, general patient treatment benefits rose 8.7 per cent last year.
Payments for prostheses rose by 12.5 per cent, and medical specialists received 9.7 per cent more.
Labor's plan to means test the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate remains stalled in the Senate.
If it manages to get the measure through, higher income earners would be hit with even higher costs.
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