SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A California Superior Court judge has preliminarily approved the settlement of a class action lawsuit alleging that Anthem Blue Cross, the California subsidiary of the nation's largest health insurer, WellPoint Inc., used enormous rate hikes to force patients into lower-benefit and higher-deductible health coverage in violation of state law. Under the settlement, California class members will be allowed to move to any new coverage they want or have their rates capped if they chose to stay in their existing policies.