Members of Parliament approved the first increase in the standard premium rate in almost five years.

Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health, said the Health Insurance (Standard Health Benefit) Amendment Regulations 2026 would increase the standard premium rate for the first time since November 2021.

As of April 1, the standard premium rate — the government-set portion of premiums — will rise from $400.31 to $439.55.

Ms Wilson said that while the Government had frozen rate increases since 2021 to ease the burden on taxpayers, the cost of healthcare continued to rise and adjustments were needed to ensure quality of care.

She noted the increase was required to cover retroactive payments totalling $38 million being made to hospital staff as a result of salary negotiations.

The second of the two $19 million payments is due by April 30.

Ms Wilson said: “The SPR adjustment is the sustainable path forward to maintaining hospital services, funded through the Mutual Reinsurance Fund, and meeting the contractual obligations to the very staff that keep our hospital functioning.

“This adjustment restores balance to the system and ensures that the resources required to sustain hospital services remain available.

“Bermuda has only one acute care hospital, and that hospital must remain strong, it must remain properly resourced and it must remain capable of delivering the critical services our people depend on for emergency care, surgery, diagnostics and treatment for serious illness.”

Craig Cannonier, the Shadow Minister of Health, said the OBA recognised the need to freeze the standard premium rate in 2021, and the reason to increase it now.

The House also approved the Health Insurance (Mutual Reinsurance Fund) (Prescribed Sum) Validation Act 2026, which was intended to validate payments made since the last rate increase.

Ms Wilson said: “We have just passed legislation to increase the SPR, effective April 1. The last time we did the increase was in November 2021, but administratively we did not go through the exercise to regularise it.

“We were in the middle of Covid, so unfortunately there was an administrative gap and we did not come back to deal with this.

“What we are doing now is to validate the activity that took place from November 2021. We are validating those payments.”