AUGUSTA – A succession of Mainers told state insurance regulators Tuesday that a rate increase proposed by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for its HealthChoice product is excessive and will force some people to do without coverage.

“Enough is enough,” Buddy Doyle, a Gardiner businessman, said in a terse statement to the Insurance Bureau during a hearing on Anthem’s filing seeking higher premiums for the individual HealthChoice line. Rates would rise by an average of 20.5 percent.

The company says the market has deteriorated so significantly that Anthem lost $3 million in that product line last year. Anthem also says it’s not seeing enough new policy buyers to spread the risk while the number of claims increases.

During the hearing that sometimes reached an emotional pitch, several speakers expressed frustration with escalating health rates and questioned why Maine’s health insurance system appears to be broken.

“If Anthem gets its proposed 20.5 percent premium increase on individual policies, I may be forced to drop my coverage and become one of the thousands of uninsured throughout the state, even after I have worked 40 years and have been able to keep up health coverage almost all those years,” Karen Baldauski of Manchester said in her testimony.

John Henderson of Auburn accused Anthem of “predatory pricing.” Speaking at a news conference by a health consumers’ group, Henderson called on the insurance superintendent to limit the rate increase to the 3.4 percent rate of inflation.

Consumers for Affordable Health Care decries the proposed increases and also asserts that health insurance ratepayers weren’t given enough time to prepare for Tuesday’s hearing. The group said Tuesday it will ask the next Legislature for reforms to drive down costs, including creation of an independent, nonprofit health insurance entity.

The 3-year-old Dirigo Health program, proposed by Gov. John Baldacci and authorized by the Legislature, attempts to spread coverage to Maine’s uninsured and keep prices affordable. The Democratic governor’s re-election challengers have said the program has not worked.

Republican candidate Chandler Woodcock has also said Maine’s harsh regulatory environment has helped to bring about Anthem’s rate request, a view shared by the company.

John Cooper, Anthem’s regional vice president for sales, said state regulations are one of several reasons why the company is seeking the HealthChoice increase. Cooper said current rates are inadequate to recover costs and that it’s not seeing enough new subscribers in the HealthChoice line.

Cooper said that without legislative intervention, the company might have to consider dropping its HealthChoice product.