Anthem is at it again. The health insurance premium rates for all the individual plans currently offered by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia have been hiked by as much as 20.5% over the past few months, and even more hikes are planned for April.

With the health insurance rates across the country steadily rising, President Obama and his administration have increased their criticism of the insurance sector. On Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent in a letter to the executives of health insurance firms, asking them to offer a public justification for the planned increases that she termed that "jaw dropping".

WellPoint Inc., Anthem's parent company has in particular come under much criticism and scrutiny since the rates of various Californians were hiked by 39%.

All across Virginia, Anthem administers over a dozen separate individual plans which are medically underwritten. All of these, except for three, were awarded approval for a rate increase by the state bureau of insurance recently.

Anthem has, in each case, justified the increases by blaming it on rising costs of health care.