Bermudians will be taking a ?rather large whack? in health insurance premiums this year as the cost of health care skyrockets over last year.

Government is increasing the maximum insurers can charge for standard hospital benefits by more than 11 percent, Finance Minister Paula Cox said yesterday ? after the Hospital Insurance Commission in conjunction with actuarial advice recommended it be increased by more than 22 percent.

That number led Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons to say: ?Alarm bells should be ringing around the Island right now?.

Saying the increase in health care costs was ?out of control?, he pointed out an 11 percent increase was three or four times the rate of inflation, and asked: ?Why don?t we have a better grip on the cost of health care??

The number of 22 percent was not going to go away, he said. ?We will have to absorb that going forward.?

?This is a very accurate and chilling situation,? Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley said. ?There is no sign on the horizon this escalation is going to temper itself in any way ? in fact, it is probably going to continue.?

An increase in hospital fees of five percent due to increased demand for health services is a large chunk of the insurance increase, Ms Cox said.

Both Mr. Dunkley and Health Insurance Association of Bermuda president Gerald Simons pointed towards unexpectedly high use of the hospital?s Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, as well as a second MRI due to be imported by Transport Minister Ewart Brown for use in his clinic, as significant factors in the leap in insurance premiums.

Several MPs called on the community to take steps towards managing their own health.

Shadow Minister of Home Affairs Maxwell Burgess said it was time for the community to declare a war on diabetes and to start exercising and eating properly. He suggested adopting an approach which rewards people who take the advice of diabetic counselling with incentives such as lower fees for their medication and treatment.

?Diabetes has been in our community for some time and we have one of the highest rates in the world. We could be far more proactive with diabetes education and prevention. The time for enjoying mac and cheese for many of us has come to an end.?

Mr. Burgess said many of these surgeries are related to diabetes and that various organisations in the community must ?declare a war on diabetes and harness health care costs.?

Dr. Brown pinned the blame on the insurance companies, however. Declaring his interest in seeing the insurance industry help subsidise the costs, he said the industry dictated the level of care people received and left Government to pick up the tab.

?This means we can justly accuse the insurance industry of cherry picking and leaving the Government to insure the less healthy,? he said.

?For once in our history the hospital needs to be designed to become an efficient business model.?

?Clearly what we will be doing is sitting down with the Health Minister to find a way to deal with the mounting cost of health care,? Ms Cox said.

The Hospital Insurance (Deductions) Amendment Regulations 2004 outline the rise in insurance rates with weekly rates rising from $12. 49 to $13.85 and monthly rates growing from $54.15 to $60 with the rates in place as of April 1.

Amendments to the Hospital Insurance (Standard Premium Regulations) include a standard premium payable in respect to a standard hospital benefit of $12 a month or $27 a week when paid weekly, of which $17.05 a month or $3.93 a week shall be paid into the Mutual Re-Insurance fund.

The standard premium payable for people over the age of 65 who do not qualify for subsidised hospital treatment shall be $428 per month or $98.96 a week of which $3.93 shall be paid into the Mutual Re-Insurance Fund.

Added to the list of standard hospital benefits are neo-natal screening for newborns, wound care, use of the new thin prep pap test, a detoxification unit at St. Brendan?s to help patients with the recovery of alcohol and drug addictions is $497, significantly cheaper than what is offered at KEMH.