A report released by Democrats on the House Committee on Small Business noted that small businesses are finding it easier to secure medical coverage for their employees, thanks to a new tax credit enacted through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The report explained that a tax credit offered through the ACA provides $40 billion in relief for small business owners.

The report found that as many as 6.7 million small businesses will be eligible to claim the tax credit; and the credit has the potential to reduce annual out-of-pocket health insurance costs for each employee by $3,500.

Along those lines, as many as 650,000 firms that didn’t offer coverage in 2009 began offering coverage in 2010, and between 2009 and 2010, coverage rates grew from 46 percent to 59 percent after the tax credit became available.