Blue Shield CA relents on proposed rate increase

Blue Shield of California has abandoned a push to raise health care premiums starting May 1 for individual and family members in the wake of bad publicity over the hikes.

The San Francisco insurer infuriated many individual policyholders by increasing rates in October, again in January and then again this spring. The highest cumulative increases, had they all gone into effect, would have been nearly 87 percent for some customers.