24 October 2016 - Health insurers say the federal government needs to find more savings in the healthcare system and step up reform of the private health sector if it is going to take a hard line on how much they can increase their premiums by in 2017.

Health fund bosses and the industry lobby say further reform of medical device rebates, a crackdown on public hospitals aggressively shifting costs to health funds and other regulatory reforms can deliver billions in savings that can be passed on to members.

"We are very conscious from our customers' point of view that their income is growing at a modest amount and healthcare costs have been growing at 5 to 6 per cent per annum, so affordability is a very big issue," Craig Drummond, chief executive of Medibank Private, said.

Read Australian Financial Review article