Government is the top culprit for the Island’s “skyrocketing” health costs, the Opposition has charged.Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley also accused Government of stalling on the release of financial statements from the Bermuda Hospitals Board.Audited reports for the 2010/11 financial year are now 10 months overdue, Sen Dunkley said.“We were told in April the report was at the printers, and then earlier this month that they were still gathering information,” he continued, branding the situation “totally unacceptable” and suggesting Government was withholding essential information.The last statements, tabled at the final session of the House of Assembly, went only as far as the 2009/10 financial year, which the One Bermuda Alliance MP said was in contravention of the law.Seniors spokeswoman Louise Jackson said Auditor General Heather Matthews had assured her that her audit for the 2010/11 financial year had been handed in.Calling the delay “reprehensible”, Ms Jackson said the requirements under the Bermuda Hospitals Board Act also include a report containing the salaries paid to BHB officers.Senator Dunkley said the latest National Health Accounts Report, released last week by the Bermuda Health Council (BHeC), gave “a very disturbing picture of soaring health costs”.“From 2009 to 2011, spending by the Ministry of Health and the BHB has risen 26 percent compared with a rise in private sector spending of just eight percent,” he said. “In other words, Government health costs rose at a pace three times greater than those in the private sector.”Andrew Simons, the OBA candidate for constituency 17, said the report showed the BHB accounting for “43 percent of total health expenditure in Bermuda, and two-thirds of the increase since 2009”.Mr Simons added that Government possesses “the tools to effect good governance at the hospital, and the OBA would use those tools to provide oversight, to ensure that costs don’t get so far out of control”.The OBA noted that Health Minister Zane DeSilva had called the annual rise in expense “unsustainable”, but rejected Government’s assertion that the National Health Plan, due for 2014, would curb costs.“Government clearly needs to get its own house in order before making any dramatic changes to our overall healthcare system,” Sen Dunkley said.Hospital spending was singled out for pointed criticism.Suggesting a shift to a “for profit” model at the hospital, Sen Dunkley said costs had taken flight with the 2009 introduction of the Chargemaster accounting system.An appendectomy that cost $2,000 in 2008 shot up threefold in cost by April 1, 2009, he said, and “anaesthesiologists saw fees increase from $25 per unit to $125 per unit”.Ms Jackson also criticised the use of hospital specialists instead of general practitioners for incoming patients at the hospital, and renewed the Opposition pledge to reopen the Medical Clinic for the poor.In response to questions, Sen Dunkley said there had been “strong allegations” and rumours in the wake of the suspension of BHB Chief of Staff Donald Thomas.“It’s vital that we have full confidence in our hospital,” he said, vowing “open, honest and upfront” management of the BHB by an OBA government.A Ministry of Health spokeswoman responded last night that the public sector clearly was “not the largest driver” when it came to costs.Rather than seeking a profit, she said, the BHB was required to generate revenue to cover its liabilities, and maintain a reserve, with a six percent surplus in revenue over expenses.Hospital fees, meanwhile, had to be proposed to the Minister and then approved by both the Lower and Upper House — making them the responsibility of the legislature as a whole.“This year, the fees went up two percent, and the hospital has agreed to revenue caps with all payers,” she added.On the issue of BHB spending, the spokeswoman said that a raft of services, including anaesthesia, obstetrics and cardiology, had been transferred over from the private sector.“These benefit the whole population, and ensure the cost is community-rated.”Health Accounts have “consistently shown that overseas care costs have more than doubled since 2005”, the spokeswoman continued.“We were pleased to see that in 2011, this rise was curbed due to the efforts of public and private insurers, and the BHB’s efforts to repatriate services.”The Opposition’s remarks also drew a swift response from the Progressive Labour Party.Mr Simons had observed that in the Pembroke Central constituency, the jobless were reduced to “tough choices they make between high HIP premiums, rent, food and childcare”.PLP candidate for the area Walton Brown said the OBA needed to be reminded of the PLP’s “landmark DayCare programme to provide quality, affordable child care to Bermudians who need it the most. Hundreds of families, especially the jobless, are benefiting from this welcome relief”.The FutureCare seniors’ insurance plan had replaced HIP for many patients, he added, asking if the Opposition intended to cut it to bring costs down.“If not, what do they plan to cut?” Mr Brown asked. “The Bermudian public deserves an answer.”