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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992                   TAG: 9202270474
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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BLUE CROSS DROPS A SMALL BUSINESS

AFTER READING the article "Blue Cross has few takers on small-business policies" Feb. 5, I am still mad as a hornet. The article says only 25 companies signed up for the plan.

I am a sole proprietor in the landscaping business, serving the Roanoke Valley for the past five years. Last summer I was informed by Blue Cross that my company was being dropped because I didn't have four full-time employees. Yet for the previous three years, I'd been covered with only two employees!

What constitutes a small business? Just examine my tax payments; they compare to a big company's.

Please, Blue Cross, try helping the small businessman keep you a big company. PATRICIA THOMPSON ROANOKE

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