clipped from www.latimes.com

Anthem Blue Cross dramatically raising rates for Californians with individual health policies

Policyholders are incensed over rate hikes of as much as 39%, which they say come on top of similar increases last year. State insurance regulators say they'll investigate.

"I've never seen anything like this," says Mark Weiss, a Century City podiatrist whose Anthem Blue Cross policy for himself and his wife will rise 35%. The couple's annual insurance bill will jump to $27,336 from $20,184. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times / February 4, 2010)

Anthem Blue Cross is telling many of its approximately 800,000 customers who buy individual coverage -- people not covered by group rates -- that its prices will go up March 1 and may be adjusted "more frequently" than its typical yearly increases.