Blue Shield of California is seeking premium increases of as much as 20% for some individual policyholders, the Los Angeles Times reports. Blue Shield is proposing an average rate increase of 12% for more than 300,000 individual policyholders, effective in March 2013. California officials are examining the rate hike proposal, but have no authority to reject the rate increase. The insurer said it expects to lose money in the individual market next year even with the proposed rate hikes. Medical costs for the individual market have increased by 10.6% while the amount that the insurer actually pays for people is increasing by 12.5%.