To the editor:

My company, a small business that Kathleen Sebelius claims to be protecting, would like to take this opportunity to personally thank her for her veto of the Blue Cross/Anthem merger. We would especially like to thank her for protecting us from those imagined rate increases coming due to the merger and her vast foresight in overruling 64 percent of the individuals who actually use BCBS of Kansas in favor of the special interests (the Lawrence school district, the Lawrence Memorial Hospital, and the city of Lawrence) whose employees are not utilizing Blue Cross.

We congratulate her on protecting the consumer, especially since we just received our fifth rate increase in five years. This one comes barely four days after her action against the merger and merely raises our monthly rates by 23 percent. While this increase is the largest that we have been hit with over the time we have been associated with Blue Cross, it mirrors most of the other increases we have gotten; a 20 percent increase each year is about average.

My small business really needs more government help like yours. Thanks again; perhaps next election, we can give you some help in kind.

Ken Meyer,

Lawrence