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America's elderly and aging baby boomers have the AARP, but who's speaking up and watching out for the 18- to 35-year-olds? When Nashville healthcare entrepreneur Clayton McWhorter couldn't find an acceptable answer to that question, he launched SHOUTAmerica.

"There is no Junior AARP, an AAYP for young people that would represent the younger generation. If their voice is not heard, and we do what we normally do in healthcare, they're going to be paying a big price in the future for the actions we take today," said McWhorter, chairman of private-equity firm Clayton Associates and a veteran of successful healthcare companies, including Hospital Corporation of America and HealthTrust Inc.

Based in Franklin in the Clayton Associates offices, SHOUTAmerica operates with a staff of three led by Landon Gibbs, 26, former deputy associate director of the Office of the Counsel in the Bush White House. With a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in economics and political science, Gibbs was working on healthcare initiatives at Clayton Associates when McWhorter named him executive director of the new organization.

Gibbs recalled the birth of SHOUTAmerica this way: "Mr. McWhorter sat us in a room and said, 'Hey guys. Here's a white board. Go to work. Figure out this organization. What do young people really want?'" Gibbs said that what they've discovered so far is that young people want healthcare that's accessible and efficient, and a model that's sustainable. He added, "We want a healthcare system that supports wellness. Oftentimes, healthcare in this country has been focused on fixing that episode of illness. We want to balance America's resources so that we're putting more emphasis on keeping people healthy rather than fixing them when they're broken down."

Helping America's youth realize that dream – and arming them with the information to do it – is SHOUTAmerica's mission. "This whole thing with SHOUTAmerica is an educational effort. If we get this young group signing on and thinking about it, look at the impact it could have on their own children," McWhorter said.

SHOUTAmerica hit the Nashville scene in October 2008, when the fledgling organization hosted its inaugural Healthcare Leadership Conference on the eve of the presidential debate at Belmont University. Student government leaders from 50 higher-education campuses spent three days at Vanderbilt's Scarritt Bennett Center, identifying healthcare problems and mapping out potential solutions and implementation strategies. They even signed a "Declaration of Commitment," modeled after the Declaration of Independence, to pursue healthcare reform. "We were not trying to give them answers, even though we posed issues to them. They're a bright group of young people, and I really, truly believe personally that they can find some answers that old folks like me may not find or have. That conference proved that to me in several instances," McWhorter said.

Much of SHOUTAmerica's early work has been outreach, using its Web site and Internet applications such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr to reach the tech-savvy younger generation. The Web site, shoutamerica.org, includes an online think tank, which allows members to post healthcare-reform ideas that others may then comment on and rate.

SHOUTAmerica is forging partnerships with groups pushing similar causes and with organizations targeting similar audiences. Two such alliances occurred in March with Concerned Youth of America and the Roosevelt Institution. CYA was founded two years ago by a group of Massachusetts high school seniors concerned about the mounting national debt, while the Roosevelt Institution is a national network of campus-based think tanks composed of college students. Last October, SHOUTAmerica partnered with change: healthcare, a Nashville company focused on healthcare-industry transparency and offering tools to track medical costs.

SHOUTAmerica, on behalf of about 30 youth organizations across the country, sent a letter to President Obama in April urging the continued engagement of young people in the healthcare debate. "The very same demographic of 18- to 35-year-olds that were instrumental to your electoral success are arguably being hit the hardest by rising healthcare costs. At current, we represent the largest portion of the uninsured by age and also stand to shoulder the greatest burden of any long-term fiscal challenges emerging from the rising cost of healthcare. In sum, when it comes to healthcare issues, we have much at stake, and we have much to offer to the discourse. … For the sake of our future, we wish not to stand by idly without offering our formal input," the letter said in part.

Gibbs said, "What we've seen is groups across the aisle, whether they're Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, join together for this letter because they want a voice in healthcare reform. That's one of the great things that you're going to see from youth groups across the country – they're tired of the partisanship; they're tired of the old way of politics in Washington, D.C.; and they're ready for real change."

McWhorter said the founding of SHOUTAmerica was prompted by the enthusiasm of young people during the last election cycle. With their involvement, "the stars were lined up to have meaningful healthcare reform," he said. While acknowledging that he's felt that way before and opportunities for change faltered, he sees hope based on SHOUTAmerica's early work. That's why he's footing the bill. "This is not another company that Clayton McWhorter started to make money off of. This is a not-for-profit," he said. "To date, I've personally funded it. Hopefully down the road, it can find a way to pay for itself."

Tags:

change: healthcare, Clayton Associates, Clayton McWhorter, Concerned Youth of America, healthcare reform, Landon Gibbs, Roosevelt Institution, SHOUTAmerica

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