LOS ANGELES » When Bernhard Punzet opened the dreaded envelope from Anthem Blue Cross one recent Saturday, it ruined his weekend.

Although he had no known medical problems, the company was raising the premium on his individual health insurance policy by 34 percent, to $254 a month. The policy for his partner, who is 12 years older, would rise 36 percent, to $369.

“;Ten percent I could have rationalized,”; said Punzet, 34, a financial controller for a Los Angeles recruiting firm. “;But a 34 percent increase? I don't even have any data points for that, nothing to compare it to. I've never seen anything go up 34 percent.”;

With health care negotiations stalled in Washington, the Obama administration is seizing on the seething fury felt by Punzet and nearly 700,000 other Anthem customers in California who have received notices of increases that average 25 percent. About a quarter of them are seeing leaps of 35 percent to 39 percent, the company said, at least four times the rate of medical inflation.

At a moment when the health care debate seemed drained of urgency, the rate increases have permitted President Barack Obama to remind Americans of what is at stake, not just for the uninsured but for those whose coverage is threatened by unregulated hyperinflation.

The spike in Anthem's premiums, Obama warned last week, were “;just a preview of coming attractions”; if the country failed to overhaul its health insurance system.

But if Anthem was the whipping boy the White House needed, the confrontation has also reinforced an emerging shift of focus in Washington from the need for universal coverage to the need for serious cost control. And it brought into clear relief the deep rift between the administration and the insurance industry concerning a central question: whether such unsustainable pricing is driven by the bloodless economics of risk or corporate greed.

Recognizing a no-lose proposition when they see one, politicians in Sacramento and Washington chastised Anthem relentlessly last week, and hearings are scheduled in both capitals. On Saturday, Anthem's parent company, WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis, agreed to a request from California's insurance commissioner to delay the increases by two months, to May 1, so he could determine whether they comply with loss-ratio regulations.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius challenged the company to justify its “;extraordinary”; rate increases and, when it did in a five-page letter, volleyed that she was not satisfied. She expressed indignation that some of Anthem's increases would be up to 15 times the rate of inflation, and that WellPoint had earned $2.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009.

“;Too many Americans are at the whim of private, for-profit insurance companies who are raking in billions in profits each year,”; Sebelius wrote on the White House blog.

Most of WellPoint's fourth-quarter surge came from the one-time sale of a business unit or that Anthem lost money on the individual market in California last year, as company officials assert. California's insurance commissioner, Steve Poizner, said Saturday that he had a “;healthy skepticism”; about the claim.

Although Anthem, the state's largest for-profit insurer, has seemed outmaneuvered by the White House so far, it has tried to transform its defensive position into a teachable moment.

In statements and letters, Anthem and WellPoint have explained what the industry calls a recessionary death spiral: as unemployment and declining wages prompt healthy people to drop their insurance, the remaining risk pool becomes sicker and more expensive to insure, which in turn forces up prices and pushes more people out of the market.

A study released this week found that the five largest health insurance companies collectively lost 2.7 million customers last year, including 1.4 million by WellPoint. Yet they reported record profits of $12.2 billion.

The death spiral “;highlights why we need sustainable health care reform to manage the steadily rising costs of hospitals, drugs and doctors,”; Anthem, which is based in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

To many in recession-wracked California, however, the Obama administration's populist rhetoric has sounded pitch perfect.

“;As a trial lawyer, I'd make it Exhibit A,”; said Joshua C. Needle, 57, of Santa Monica, whose premium is rising 33 percent. “;I have no problem with profits, but they're maximizing profits without any concern that they have a captive audience.”;

Needle, like many of the 13 million Americans who buy insurance individually rather than through employers, cannot shop for a better deal because he has medical conditions like high cholesterol and glaucoma that would probably disqualify him with other carriers.

Once accepted by an insurer, consumers cannot be dropped for medical reasons.

But in California, where Anthem controls more than half of the individual market, regulators have little power to prevent insurers from raising individual rates as high as the market will bear. That often forces consumers to move to less-generous policies with higher deductibles to hold down their costs.

Poizner, who is running for governor in the Republican primary, has hired actuaries to study whether Anthem is spending at least 70 percent of premium revenues on claims, as required by state regulations. WellPoint officials said they were confident that Anthem exceeded the threshold.

In the health care bills that have passed each chamber, but not been reconciled, congressional Democrats would attack the cost of premiums in several ways. Everyone would be required to have health insurance, spreading risk among larger pools. Health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, would force insurers to compete more transparently. Insurers would be prohibited from denying or canceling coverage due to medical conditions, and would be forced to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on claims.

Paradoxically, since WellPoint has lobbied vigorously against the legislation, the company argued last week that its “;unfortunate but necessary”; rate increases demonstrated the need for a major fix.

But the company found fault with the Democrats' proposals, particularly what it sees as soft enforcement of a health insurance mandate that would allow millions of people to remain uninsured. Only if everyone is covered, the insurance industry argues, can it spread its risks sufficiently to stop rejecting those with pre-existing conditions.

“;The reform being discussed in Washington will not do anything to address the underlying increases in costs,”; said Brian A. Sassi, president of consumer business for WellPoint.

Medical costs have typically risen by 5 percent to 10 percent during each of the last five years. Poizner said he was starting to see significant increases for individual policies sold by some of Anthem's competitors, and double-digit increases have been reported in other states.

Several insurance analysts said it was possible, but not necessarily likely, that such increases would become common, at least while the economic downturn persists. Insurance brokers in Los Angeles said they had never seen jumps of such magnitude.

“;It's more astonishment than irritation,”; a Pasadena broker, John W. Barrett, said of the reaction from his customers. “;Irritation was last year and the year before. Now they're astonished.”;