The One Bermuda Alliance challenged whether David Burt misled the House of Assembly on Friday night.

The Premier accused the pressure group Patients 1st, which opposes the Government’s health plan 2020, of being “run by the insurance companies”.

The statement from Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, the shadow health minister, noted that insurance companies had denied involvement in the group.

The Royal Gazette reported on Tuesday that the three main insurance firms Argus, BF&M and Colonial had disavowed Patients 1st.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin accused Mr Burt yesterday of “clearly getting desperate”, and “trying to deflect from a very unpopular new policy”.

The Opposition MP said the Premier had ignored an “extraordinary” 12,000 signees to the Patient 1st petition against the draft health insurance reforms.

Speaking during the Motion to Adjourn on Friday, Mr Burt had queried the identity of the group’s leaders, pointing out that its statements came from a generic Gmail account.

The Premier told MPs that Patients 1st had asked to meet with health minister Kim Wilson at the end of March, and challenged them to set up a meeting with him this week and “show your faces”.

It drew a swift rebuttal from Patients 1st on Sunday, with the group denying any affiliation with insurance firms and insisting that it had no leadership.

Also on Wednesday, Ms Wilson issued a statement saying she looked forward to “engaging with” the group.

The Gazette asked for the background to Mr Burt’s branding of Patients 1st as an extension of insurance companies, and whether the group had offered to meet, but received no response.