Bernie does not heal from patch work skill

There must be some other bit to repro this, because it does work fine for me here. 

Changed Status to Can't Reproduce

Under what conditions is bernie supposed to regenerate? I cannot make him ever regenerate despite having the skill in the skills tree. I don't use any mods. BERNIE and bernie do not regenerate in storage, equiped, in inventory, on the ground. His health simply never goes up