Consumers are set to get slugged with increases to their health insurance well above the inflation rate, after the federal government approved hikes set to start from April 1.
The average premium increase across the 34 private health insurance funds operating in Australia will be 4.84 per cent, which will cost families up to $200 extra a year.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says the hike is the lowest in 10 years.
"I realise cost of living pressures are a major concern for Australian families," Mr Hunt said on Friday.
"Although this is the lowest increase in a decade, I am determined that more can be done to get better value for families."
Mr Hunt said he will work with health insurers over the next year to find ways to create more value for consumers.
Health insurance comparator iSelect said although this year's rise is lower than in prior years, it is still more than three times the current rate of inflation of 1.5 per cent.
"This latest increase means that average premiums have increased by a total of more than 50 per cent since 2010," iSelect said.
Australia's biggest health insurer, Medibank, said it will lift premiums by an average of 4.6 per cent for all Medibank and ahm products.
Medibank chief executive Craig Drummond said the April hike will be the lowest for the insurer in 15 years.
"We realise that premium increases are always unwelcome, which is why we will continue to work with the industry and government to promote reforms that drive cost growth down and ease pressure on our customers," Mr Drummond said.
Health insurer nib will lift its premiums by an average of 4.48 per cent from April 1
nib chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon said nib was doing its best to keep premiums as low as possible.
But he said nib had paid out $1.4 billion in claims in 2016 - up 5.5 per cent on the prior year.
He said the April hike was the third consecutive annual premium rise that was proportionately lower than the previous year, and was the lowest increase in 14 years.
Mr Fitzgibbon said insurers were paying "ridiculous" prices on behalf of consumers for medical devices and there were opportunities to reduce costs and improve efficiency in healthcare.
"There remains widespread evidence of unwarranted surgery and hospitalisation, and overcharging customers," he said.
The Victorian Healthcare Association said it was misguided to blame the public health sector for the rise in premiums and added that many health insurers had registered record profits last year.
In January 2016, the then-health minister, Sussan Ley, demanded that health insurers justify their requests for premium increases.
At the time, Ms Ley asked all providers to resubmit an application for a lower premium increase or to provide evidence of extenuating circumstances.
Premiums increased by an average 6.18 per cent on April 1, 2015.
