As a former Governor, I know that economic growth often starts with small businesses that have big ideas. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, I’ve seen how a breakthrough in a lab can lead to a life-saving medication in medicine chests across America.

Today, my colleagues Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins made an announcement that brings these forces together. As part of the Affordable Care Act, we’re creating a new tax credit for biotechnology research that will create jobs, save lives, and bring down health care costs.

The tax credit will be available to the small biotech firms around the country whose research has been judged by our NIH experts to hold great promise to lead to new therapies and medical innovation. Our goal is to make targeted investments so that encouraging leads that otherwise might have been set aside can now be vigorously pursued by some of our best scientists.

Over the last few decades, breakthroughs in biotechnology have improved the health of millions of Americans – dramatically reducing the mortality rates for many diseases and health conditions. At the same time, the biotech industry has become a key driver of our high-tech economy, supporting 1.3 million high-quality jobs.

Put simply, today’s announcement equals more cures and more jobs.

To learn more about how this announcement achieves some of the Affordable Care Act’s key goals like supporting American businesses, promoting health care innovation, and helping Americans live healthier lives, you can read a fact sheet here and the full IRS Notice on the tax credit here.

Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of Health and Human Services