Health premiums are reported to rise by an estimated 6-7 per cent this year, or up to $195 for a family.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon quoted that customers shouldn't foresee good news when she reveals the 2010 private health insurance premium increases next week. Roxon stressed that this would "free up health insurance companies to raise their premiums as high as possible, with nobody standing in their way."

The Minister reflected that the Government had forensically examined proposed fee rises by insurers after a 6.02 per cent rise last year. It believed that various health funds were asked to return back to the drawing board and reassess their cases.

Australian Health Insurance Association chief executive Michael Armitage claimed that premium rises were always kept to a minimum when compared to rising costs.

"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 lift would raise the cost of comprehensive family cover, without extras, from nearly $2772 to $2966 a year. A similar rise would nudge the cost of cover for singles by $96 a year.