"Tax Credits To Benefit Most Small Firms," July 21, touts the small business tax credit in the health care bill as a boon to small businesses, without noting that few businesses actually meet the requirements, and the perverse incentives the tax credit makes.

While the article mentions the limits on the tax credit, it fails to consider the implications. The benefits phase out when businesses hire more than 25 employees, or pay their workers more than an average of $25,000. The credit vanishes if a small business exceeds 50 workers, or exceeds an average wage of $50,000.

That is to say the tax credit punishes business for hiring workers, or for increasing workers' pay.

This is hardly the type of policy small business or their employees should be thankful for.

KATRINA CURRIE
Research Associate
Commonwealth Foundation
Harrisburg

Last Saturday's letters about the costs of medical malpractice misses three important points:

1. Medical negligence verdicts have nothing to do with the cost of premiums. Insurance companies make most of their profits from investments. When their investments are up, they compete for doctors with low insurance rates. When their investments go down, they hike the rates.

2. Courts only hear cases with merit. Since 2003, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has required a medical expert to affirm that there is a genuine issue of malpractice before a lawyer can pursue a remedy for his or her claim.

3. Medical errors are at the root of malpractice cases. In 2009 alone, Pennsylvania health-care providers reported more than 9,000 "serious incidents" at Pennsylvania hospitals. A new report by the Patient Safety Authority uncovers a growing problem of conflicts in the ER between doctors and nurses putting patients further at risk.

Malpractice lawsuits in Pennsylvania are at historic lows. Filings in Allegheny County have dropped 33 percent in the last decade. Yet preventable medical errors like hospital infections continue to go unchecked. The best way to reduce the cost of medical malpractice is to reduce treatment errors through increased patient safety.

JOSHUA P. GEIST
Goodrich & Goodrich P.C.
Downtown

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