Preston Smalley

The power of effective design is often discussed in the context of “product design” but my friend Dan Roam (and  Dr. Tony Jones MD) showed this week how it can be used to potentially save lives. Okay maybe that’s a stretch, but his latest sketches on visualizing the health care debate will definitely help avoid confusion–which regardless of where you stand on health care, I’d still like believe will lead out nation to a better outcome than if we all just relied on scare tactics.

Napkin Set #1 – How we are stuck in the middle between doctors and insurance companies. I love how Dan bends the scale in the drawing.

Napkin Set #2 – Explains how this is really all about insurance reform (not health care) and that it’s us that will pay for it. It also drives home the point that insurance companies (and I’d add oil companies) are two industries that have done well thru the recession. Hmm…

Napkin #3 – An overview of the actual proposals (with names) being discussed in Congress. I love how slide 7 shows with size, visuals, and color the types of plans being discussed.

Napkin #4 - Explains how each of us will be affected by the proposals. I guess in the end, it’s gonna cost more and it’s just a matter of how we want to pay for it and what forces should be at work to improve quality/economics.

I got far more out of these handful of sketches than I did out of the White House Reality Check, HealthReform.gov, Time Mag Cover Story, or even the many stories on NPR combined. All of them seem to cover more the nature of the debate than the actual proposals themselves. While I can’t fault the radio coverage for being more visual… the mainstream media, the Whitehouse, and Congress would be wise to enlist visual thinking on this health care debate. Otherwise the status quo (skyrocketing health care costs AND < 100% coverage) is likely all we’ll end up with as Congress won’t be able to act.

UPDATE: Dan compiled all four sets into on presentation of napkins.

I’m a bit disturbed by the fact that in just one day, the quota for H-1B visas in the United States was filled for 2008. What brought this fact home was later that same week I had to pass on a job applicant (already located in California) that did not have current H-1B status–leaving me unable to hire a qualified candidate for my team.

While Congress continues to try and protect our native workforce with legistration that severly limits the issuing of H-1B visas, I’m afraid it is not having the desired effect. From my perspective on the design industry, there are not enough workers in the US (or at least California) to fill the open positions. Therefore this law is protecting no-one.

The reality is that I have to find a way to get the work done on my team, I have no choice but to try and expand the amount of work I outsource to vendors offshore. Therefore no only is the work is no longer being done in the US but Congress is also not collecting payroll taxes on that work (since it is paid via expense money to an offshore company).

The restrictive H-1B laws seem to be a lose-lose situation for the US.

Update 8/22/07: The NY Times today ran a great story on how the best solution to the “reverse brain drain” is to grant high-tech workers permanent visas (or green cards).