Employers who do not fulfil their legal obligation to provide health insurance cover for their staff will end up being named online, under steps pledged in yesterday’s Throne Speech.

Economic troubles might leave employers tempted to cut corners, Governor George Fergusson observed. But Jennifer Attride-Stirling, CEO of the Bermuda Health Council — the body responsibly for ensuring that workers receive coverage — insisted that the move did not equate to “naming and shaming”.

“For the Health Council, this is about prevention and deterrence. It’s important to remember that most employers fulfil their insurance obligations all the time, but this initiative will help to tackle the problems with those that are not compliant,” she said.

Several recent cases have ended up in Magistrates’ Court in recent months, with business owners paying fines after being caught failing to cover their staff.

“Posting the names of employers known to have no insurance would create a significant disincentive to non-compliance,” Ms Attride-Stirling said. “It’s also a means for us to tell the employees that they are not covered.”

On occasion, workers do not realise they have no insurance until they go to a pharmacy or the hospital.

“Nobody is checking on employers all the time and sometimes people are scared to come forward,” she said.

“This allows employees to take up the issue with their employer based on publicly available information. So we see it as preventive.

“We hope that nobody is ever even on that list — in fact, most of the time when we contact employers, they correct the situation swiftly. For the minority that don’t, posting the names will create a strong deterrent.”

The information will be published on the Bermuda Health Council’s website, but will be thoroughly vetted first.

Ms Attride-Stirling said that it would be presented as saying that, at the time of publication, “we did not have a record that this business had an active health insurance policy for its employees”.

“We are adamant that we hope to see no employer on the list,” she said.

The initiative will be enacted “immediately” upon the passing of the legislation — hopefully before the close of this fiscal year, she said.

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