Bermuda’s health insurers will be billed an extra three percent this fiscal year, according to a report released yesterday.The 2010 Actuarial Report for the Bermuda Health Council bases its calculations on the price of a minimum health insurance package, which on April 1 rose $16.13, to a new Standard Premium Rate of $252.27.The report recommended that Standard Hospital Benefit increase 7.6 percent, to $225.46. Mutual Reinsurance Fund rose by 30 cents to $26.81. The two combined give the Standard Premium Rate, which Government sets in accordance with the report’s recommendations.The increase has been attributed to a 1.5 percent increase in Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) fees, plus an allowance for a 15 percent increase in overseas medical claims.A cap of three percent has been set on the BHB’s billing to insurers for the fiscal year of 2011.According to Health Council chairwoman Linda Merritt, the review of the Standard Premium Rate helps keep the minimum insurance package appropriately priced and financially sustainable.Health Council CEO Jennifer Attride-Stirling said the annual report, which became public last year, enabled transparency for Bermuda’s health system.“We publish as much of our work as possible, so that all stakeholders have access to the facts and data that underpin our decisions,” she said.The Bermuda Health Council, which was set up in 2006 to oversee the Island’s healthcare system, based its calculations for the report on local insurers’ claims for Standard Hospital Benefit in the previous year, as well as projections for the year ahead.It can be read at: www.bhec.bm