AUSTRALIANS must brace for more health insurance premium rises, federal Health Minister Tony Abbott says

"You could expect health insurance premiums to increase in the years ahead," Mr. Abbott said.

Mr. Abbott today said the government was not setting up to increase private health insurance subsidies, but proposed reforms may make insurance more affordable.

"But I would like to think that premium rises, like any interest rate increase, would always be less under a coalition government than under any alternative."

Mr. Abbott said the government had put a choice of measures in place to make private health insurance a more affordable and attractive option, as it took important pressure off the public hospital system.

"We are not planning any additional subsidy measures," he said.

"But we do think that the kind of important incremental change, the kind of significant liberalization that we think the coming legislation will embody, will make it easier for the funds to offer their services at competitive prices."