The 12 Best Jobs In The Booming American Health Care Industry

As the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, kicks in and the population ages, hiring in the health care industry is expected to generate the largest number of jobs compared to all other industries by 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That's a total of 5.6 million jobs with an annual growth rate of 3%.

To find out which jobs offer the best opportunities in health care, job search site CareerCast analyzed survey data that weighed stress, physical demands, and both the current and future employment outlook of 200 occupations.

"What's similar for the jobs on this list, with the exception of biomedical engineer, is that they work individually one-on-one with another person," Tony Lee, publisher at CareerCast.com, tells Business Insider. "When you're working with someone else, the job satisfaction is pretty high because you see someone often and they're giving you feedback, as opposed to having very few people thanking you."

Lee predicts that the need for these professionals will last for years to come. "Baby boomers are entering retirement, and as our body ages, the type of medical professionals that are needed to help people deal with that are going to be in greater demand."

The overall score for each job takes into account the pay; hiring outlook; stress; emotional factors, including the level of competitiveness and degree of public contact; and physical demands, such as stamina required and work conditions, that normally come with a job. Once the categories are combined, a lower overall score signals that the job is more desirable to employees.

Much of data used to evaluate the jobs comes from the BLS, other government agencies, trade associations, and private survey firms.