On SiriusXM POTUS Channel 124, Marty Young spoke with Tim Farley about the Young Americans Healthcare Plan and how targeted, disciplined reform can lower healthcare costs and strengthen families and small businesses.

FAQs

How is this paid for without raising taxes or growing government?

The money is already being spent. More than half of American children are currently covered through Medicaid or CHIP, which are fragmented, waste-heavy, and prone to fraud. This plan consolidates those dollars into a single, proven TRICARE-style system with far lower administrative costs and far less abuse. "TRICARE for All" for single adults and couples is paid through premiums that cost the government and taxpayers nothing. No new taxes. No new bureaucracy. Just using existing funds more efficiently and leveraging a proven system for everyone else. 

Why focus on kids and maternity care instead of the whole system at once?

Because this is where the system is most broken and where reform delivers the biggest return.

Children and maternity care represent one of the most inefficient and fraud-prone parts of healthcare relative to outcomes. Fixing this segment first lowers premiums for adults, reduces pressure on employers, stabilizes family finances, and improves long-term health outcomes, all without disrupting care for seniors or veterans.

Today, more than half of American children are already covered by government programs, but through systems riddled with inefficiency, inconsistent access, and administrative waste. Families cycle in and out of coverage, doctors struggle with low reimbursement, and taxpayers keep paying more without seeing better results.

YAHP fixes that specific failure.

By guaranteeing coverage for children, young adults, and expectant mothers, the plan stabilizes care where stability matters most, reduces long-term healthcare costs, and removes one of the biggest financial risks families face, without touching Medicare or disrupting adult care choices.

For seniors, that distinction matters.

YAHP does not compete with Medicare or redirect resources away from seniors. Instead, it strengthens the system by reducing downstream costs that eventually hit Medicare through chronic disease, emergency care, and long-term disability. Healthier kids become healthier adults, which protects Medicare over time rather than straining it.

This is not the entire healthcare solution. It is the most responsible place to start.

Right now, insurance markets are distorted because families with children are forced into complex, heavily subsidized systems that shield insurers from real competition. Costs rise, quality stagnates, and taxpayers make up the difference.

By removing child and maternal care from those markets, YAHP does two things at once. It strips away one of the most expensive and administratively complex segments of coverage, lowering overall risk and costs for adult plans. And it forces insurers to compete again on price and quality, instead of relying on guaranteed government flows tied to complex regulations.

Then Phase II of YAHP enables TRICARE contractors to compete in the ACA exchanges to provide "TRICARE for All" for adults and couples, paid through premiums that cost the government and taxpayers nothing. When competition returns, prices come down. Networks improve. Innovation follows. That is how markets are supposed to work.

“Isn’t this just another government healthcare program that will get bloated and inefficient?”

No. And this is where YAHP is fundamentally different.

Most government healthcare programs become expensive because they are built around layers of insurance middlemen whose business model depends on complexity. Administrators, insurance brokers, managed-care organizations, and billing intermediaries all take a cut before care ever reaches a patient. That is where waste, fraud, and abuse concentrate. Not only does this drive costs up exponentially for families, it also pushes quality care further out of reach.

Those same middlemen benefit when programs like the ACA and Medicaid expansion push more money through complex insurance structures instead of simplifying care. That incentive problem is rarely discussed in Washington. Insurance middlemen are often major political donors, and the system keeps getting patched in ways that protect those interests. Families feel the consequences every month through higher premiums, higher deductibles, and surprise bills.

YAHP is designed to break that cycle without reinventing any bureaucratic wheels.

It removes children, young adults, and expectant mothers from those bloated systems entirely and places them into a TRICARE-style model that already delivers care with low fraud and high satisfaction. There are no insurance brokers. No competing plans gaming reimbursement rules. No fifty different state bureaucracies reinventing the same administration.

Doctors are paid directly. Families know what is covered. And just as important, YAHP does not touch Medicare, private insurance, or adult care choices. It is narrowly focused where the system is most broken and where guaranteed coverage actually lowers costs for everyone over time.

FAQs

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“Why should voters without kids or small businesses care about this?”

Because healthcare costs don’t stop with families. They ripple through paychecks, prices, taxes, and the future of the economy.

Right now, healthcare costs are one of the biggest expenses for small businesses. Many employers spend close to 30 percent of total compensation just on health insurance. That means less money for raises, fewer jobs created, and higher prices for consumers. Even people with “good insurance” are paying for the system through lower wages and higher costs everywhere else.

Taxpayers are already paying too. More than half of American children are covered by Medicaid or CHIP, and those programs keep getting more expensive without delivering better outcomes. When costs rise faster than wages or GDP, taxpayers either pick up the bill or watch other priorities get squeezed out.

When families can’t afford healthcare, they delay or decide against having children. That’s already happening. The U.S. fertility rate has fallen to around 1.6, well below the 2.2 needed to sustain a stable workforce and economy. That may sound abstract, but it’s not. Fewer kids today means fewer workers tomorrow, which means slower growth, higher taxes, and more pressure on Social Security and Medicare down the road.

YAHP directly addresses that pressure.

By guaranteeing healthcare for children, young adults, and expectant mothers, the plan removes one of the biggest financial risks families face. That helps parents make decisions based on opportunity instead of fear. It lowers long-term healthcare costs by catching problems early, reduces pressure on emergency care, and stabilizes the workforce small businesses depend on.

Even if you never have children or never run a business, you live in an economy shaped by whether families can afford to grow, work, and take risks. YAHP strengthens that foundation. It lowers costs now and prevents much higher costs later.

Then, once this population is moved out, the TRICARE Contractors can compete in the ACA exchanges to offer "TRICARE for All" for adults and couples, paid through premiums that cost the government and taxpayers nothing yet save singles and couples thousands annually.

Why are you, as a Republican, leading with this healthcare plan?

Because the data are clear, the system is failing, and incremental extensions are making the problem harder to solve, not easier.

Over the last twenty-five years, healthcare costs have grown at more than twice the rate of household income, and they now account for nearly 30 percent of total employment costs for businesses. At the same time, more than half of all American children are already covered by government programs, yet access remains inconsistent, administrative costs continue to rise, and outcomes are not improving. These are not partisan claims. They are structural facts.

Washington’s response to rising healthcare costs has largely been driven by elected officials repeatedly extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and expanding Medicaid eligibility rather than confronting the structural failures of the system itself.

By continuing to layer temporary expansions onto Medicaid and CHIP, along with repeated ACA subsidy extensions, policymakers reinforce a fragmented healthcare framework held together by political band-aids. These band-aids are often presented as progress for political points, but they avoid the harder work of the real reform that is needed.

My approach comes from experience, not ideology.

In the military, I lived inside TRICARE. I saw how a disciplined, accountable healthcare system functions when it is designed around patients rather than middlemen. When soldiers were deployed overseas, including in combat zones, their children still received care. Expectant mothers still received prenatal and postnatal services. Coverage did not depend on income thresholds, job changes, or navigating competing plans. Care was delivered predictably, and costs were controlled because the system was simple and aligned.

After my active military service, I spent decades in the private sector fixing complex, multi-million-dollar systems that were failing. In some cases, companies were losing millions of dollars a day, and thousands of jobs were at risk. The work was never about slogans. It was about identifying where incentives were broken, removing unnecessary layers, stabilizing the system, and producing durable results. I have done that work across the country and here in this district, helping stabilize companies, save hundreds of millions of dollars, and protect thousands of jobs.

That same discipline is what shaped the Young Americans Health Plan.

YAHP focuses on the part of the healthcare system where reform is most achievable and where the economic return is highest: children, young adults, and expectant mothers. This population has predictable care needs, high preventive value, and long-term impact on workforce participation and future healthcare costs. By stabilizing coverage here, we reduce administrative waste, lower pressure on employers, improve access to care, and strengthen long-term economic growth, all without touching Medicare or eliminating private insurance options for adults.

This is not a comprehensive rewrite of healthcare. It is a targeted structural fix, designed to lower costs, improve access, and create the conditions for a more competitive insurance market for everyone else.

Voters deserve more than temporary fixes and political talking points. They deserve solutions that keep pace with rising costs, protect access to high-quality care, and reflect the realities families and small businesses face every day. That is why this approach has earned early support from leaders across the political spectrum, including respected Republicans who understand that governing means delivering durable solutions, not managing problems year to year.

“Does this plan take away my healthcare or force me into something new?”

No. This plan does not take away anyone’s healthcare. It actually brings new competitors into the marketplace: the TRICARE contractors.

If you are satisfied with your current coverage, nothing about the Young Americans Health Plan changes that. Adults retain their private insurance options and employer-based plans. Medicare remains exactly as it is. Veterans’ healthcare remains exactly as it is.

What this plan changes is the instability that families have been forced to live with for years. Parents should not have to worry that a job change, a raise, or a premium increase could disrupt their children’s care. Mothers should not have to navigate gaps in coverage at the most vulnerable moments of pregnancy and early childhood. And families should not have to make life decisions around whether they can afford to get sick.

By guaranteeing consistent care for children, young adults, and expectant mothers, we remove one of the most destabilizing pressures in family life. That stability improves access to care, strengthens long-term health outcomes, and allows families and employers alike to plan for the future with confidence.

What is driving healthcare costs so high for families today?

Several factors are pushing costs higher at the same time.

Many families now pay more each month for health insurance premiums than they do on their mortgage, even before deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. That reflects a system dominated by middlemen, complex billing layers, and incentives that reward volume and administration instead of outcomes and prevention.



At the same time, children and maternity care are pushed through fragmented programs and insurance markets that add cost without improving care. This plan simplifies that part of the system, reduces administrative overhead, and stabilizes the expenses families feel most acutely.

How does this help small businesses and local employers?

Healthcare costs are one of the biggest barriers to hiring, raises, and growth for small businesses. By taking child and maternity healthcare costs out of the employer insurance market, this plan lowers premiums and reduces volatility for employers of every size. That means more predictable costs, stronger hiring, better wages, and fewer businesses forced to choose between covering employees and staying afloat.

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