America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) President and CEO Karen Ignagni today released the following statement on proposed health care reform legislation: “For health care reform to work, everyone needs to be covered and the growth in health care costs must be brought under control. Health care reform legislation that does not address underlying medical costs cannot be sustained. Unfortunately, this legislation will drive up health care costs by adding billions in new health care taxes and encouraging people to wait until they are sick before getting insurance.”

Even as the U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged, health care added another 20,000 jobs. Layoffs were also down overall, although the pharmaceutical industry reported high job cuts due to the Merck/Schering-Plough merger. But even in the difficult pharmaceutical field, layoffs overall were down by about 17 percent compared to the first two months of 2009. There was more good news in February as well; Challenger, Gray & Christmas said planned job cuts across all industries were down by 41 percent, to their lowest level since 2006.

There's no denying that the economy today is in a state of transition; finances are tumbling, jobs being outsourced, new green technologies being developed and the government trying to organise a solution to it all. With all of this going on, itís clear that people skills are very important.

CNA Arizona cites recent statistics released by the Bureau of Labor indicating job growth in the healthcare industry. The 2008 to 2018 projections included information on population, labor force, employment, employment change by industry, employment change by occupation, employment change by detailed occupation, employment change by education and training category, etc. Most notable for those choosing to pursue a career in the healthcare industry were the job growth projections.

The practice of defensive medicine adds considerable costs to the already-strained U.S. health care system. Within the ongoing debate on health care reform, one item of discussion is usually overlooked: the cost of defensive medicine. As more patients sue for medical malpractice and receive larger settlements, many practicing physicians are forced out of necessity to spend more time performing procedures and ordering tests to defend themselves from possible future litigation. This defensive measure adds considerable costs to the already-strained U.S. health care system.

Even as health care employment grows, albeit more slowly than in 2009, changes to the pharmaceutical landscape could mean the relatively-small number of layoffs in that industry might soon increase again. January was something of a confusing month in terms of the employment situation. Overall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent, although outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported a five-month high in job cuts of employees on full-time payrolls. Of those 71,000-plus layoff announcements, about 8,100 were in the pharmaceutical industry. However, health care gained another 15,000 jobs – trending lower than in 2009.

As an extremely difficult year came to a close, the health care industry remained a bright spot in terms of employment growth. But that was offset by a rough ride for pharmaceuticals, which shed more than 60,000 jobs in 2009. If the actions of the larger pharmaceutical companies going into 2010 are any indication, the trouble isn't over just yet.

World-Leading Futurist Identifies 10 Key Trends that Will Define the 2010s, including Collective Intelligence, Culture Jamming, Exponential Bio Technology, and Augmented Humans -  “We are on the verge of the most exciting decade in human history”, says Ross Dawson, chairman of international future consulting group Future Exploration Network. “The degree of change over the next 10 years will exceed that of the last 25 years. One of the most important uncertainties is how well we as individuals and a society cope with the extraordinary pace of change ahead.”

In a national housing market fueled by tax credits, some areas hit bottom in early 2009 - at least for entry level housing. Multiple-offers and bidding wars continue in these areas despite an ongoing use of strategic defaults, notices of default proportionate to unemployment levels, legislation changes, government sponsored loan modifications, and a growing shadow inventory. If the national real estate market is like an ocean, with peaks, troughs, and tides, then where then should a real estate investor look for residential investment property?

Find Out What the Most Secure, Lucrative and Rapidly Expanding Fields of the Next Decade Will Be - The nation’s top careers seem to change every decade or so; it’s just the way things work in the dynamic economies of the western world. In the 1980s, extraordinary success was achieved with a business administration degree. In the 1990s it was computer programming, and in the 2000s it was web design. As a new decade dawns, those who can foresee what the new hot careers are going to be will have the opportunity to get the training and experience they need to excel.