As this slideshow from Dan Roam reveals, the healthcare reform debate is really a debate over insurance reform: who pays for healthcare. His slideshow dramatizes who the players are in this debate, what are their motivations, and how this impacts the American consumer (and tax payer).
This is the best resource I’ve seen to help clarify the dimensions of the debate and what’s at stake. Its clarity is due to Dan Roam’s mastery of visual thinking as a means to organize and focus the key aspects of complex topics and then communicate those insights in a simple and straightforward manner that is easily grasped. As I wrote a year ago, I loved Roam’s book on visual thinking, The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. This slideshow is a great example of the power of visual thinking.
This debate matters to me because I own a small business and there are no good, affordable alternatives for small businesses. I hope that this slideshow helps to illuminate the issues, and help the government reach a consensus that serves the consumer and tax payer, without continuing to enrich the private insurers at the expense of the consumer (which is the status quo).
Christine // Oct 9, 2009 at 8:23 am
Thanks, Melanie. If you find yourself needing to do presentations at work, you might want to look for a copy of Dan Roam’s book. It really codifies how to think through complex ideas, and then visualize them in simple ways. If you master this approach, it could really help your communications stand out.
Melanie // Oct 8, 2009 at 9:07 pm
That is a very awesome presentation. I love the visual simplicity of it, and the way it has been divided into four sections. I’m sure most people read it straight through anyways, but it does a great job of controling the audience’s impression of how long it is.