Jacksonville-area small business owners take note. 

Almost 159,000 small businesses are eligible for tax credits to help pay for employee health insurance, according to the health organization Families USA. That amounts to 79 percent of Illinois businesses with 25 or fewer employees.

Jonathan Vander Brug of the Campaign for Better Health Care says he doesn’t know how many will participate. "It's there for them to take advantage of it," says Vander Brug. "We've seen this with other small business tax credits and other opportunities like this."

To get the tax credit, the average employee salary must be $50,000 or less and the employer must pay half the cost of health insurance. The tax credit is up to 35 percent of the cost of insurance for this year, and will be up to 50 percent in 2014.

"Specifically in Illinois, 160,000 businesses will be eligible for this tax credit," says Vander Brug.

Vander Brug says small businesses typically pay more for insurance and get less coverage than medium-sized and large businesses.

The tax credit is in effect for Tax Year 2010.