The cost of the hospital’s new acute care wing is about to be passed on to consumers through higher premiums, as the price of the Standard Hospital Benefit goes up by more than ten per cent this month.

The Standard Health Premium (SPR) is set to rise from $301.85 a month to $338.07 — roughly two thirds of which will go to the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB).

The cost for this mandatory minimum benefits package, which is being renamed the Standard Health Benefit, is borne equally by employers and their staff, meaning the hike of $36.22 will be split each month.

Announcing new health insurance amendments at the last sitting of Parliament, Jeanne Atherden, the Minister of Health, said that $23.64 of that increase would go towards addressing the “crisis of funding” confronting the BHB.

The transfer, which will generate an estimated $13.7 million, will spare the hospital from increasing its fees — although a 1 per cent increase in BHB fees also lies ahead.

The premium is set by Parliament rather than the BHB, and is based on annual actuarial recommendations.

The SPR has risen steadily over the years, although it dropped substantially last year from $325.84 — a first, according to Ms Atherden.

The premium was set for $271.61 in the 2013 fiscal year, and $252.27 in the 2012 fiscal year.

The latest increase, which is a 12 per cent rise, is the sharpest in recent years: the SPR went up by a little less than 8 per cent in the 2012-13 increase — although actuaries at the time had recommended a 19 per cent increase — and rose by 6.8 per cent in 2011.

Although hospital costs constitute the bulk of the SPR increase, other factors contribute: $6.17 is expected to be added by a pilot programme offering primary care to uninsured indigent patients and persons on Financial Assistance who receive the Bermuda Government’s Health Insurance Plan (HIP), in cases of chronic disease such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

An extra transfer to HIP, which the minister described as “severely compromised” as the insurance plan of last resort, will add $4.40 to the SPR, while a transfer to cover regulation costs for the Bermuda Health Council will add 33 cents.

Other changes to standard benefits have taken a little more than a dollar off the SPR — including a switch in mammogram screening to United States guidelines, a move that has come under fire from the Progressive Labour Party.