Given commitments to safeguard healthcare, GOP lawmakers will seek to thread the needle as they consider making spending reductions to healthcare programs. It will take a lot of finesse!   About The Podcast:   Millions of Americans feel confused and frustrated in their search for quality healthcare coverage.   Between out-of-control costs, countless inefficiencies, a lack of affordable universal access, and little focus on wellness and prevention, the system is clearly in dire need of change.   Hosted by healthcare policy and technology expert Marc S. Ryan, the Healthcare Labyrinth Podcast offers accessible, incisive deep dives on the most pressing issues and events in American healthcare.   Marc seeks to help Americans become wiser consumers and navigate the healthcare maze with more confidence and certainty through The Healthcare Labyrinth website and his book of the same name.   Marc is an unconventional Republican who believes that affordable universal access is a wise and prudent investment. He recommends common-sense solutions to reform American healthcare.   Tune in every week as Marc examines the latest developments in the space, offering analysis, insights, and predictions on the changing state of healthcare in America.   About The Episode:   On this episode, Marc discusses how, given commitments to safeguard healthcare, GOP lawmakers will seek to thread the needle as they consider making spending reductions to healthcare programs. It will take a lot of finesse!   Key Takeaways:     Both President Trump and GOP lawmakers have made commitments not to impact Medicare and Medicaid coverage.   The current budget reconciliation framework calls for $880 billion in healthcare cuts over ten years.   Given such a big bogey, the Congressional Budget Office says Medicaid and perhaps Medicare would have to be impacted.   Lawmakers want to focus on fraud and waste as well as work requirements in Medicaid.   The amount of overpayments, fraud and waste is big. But is that enough?   Trump and lawmakers will have to thread the needle on healthcare cuts. It will take a lot of finesse.   Lawmakers likely will stay away from radical healthcare program changes and overt reimbursement reductions to states in Medicaid.   They may seek to reform certain provider payments and ways that states raise revenue to pay for their share in Medicaid.   Possible cuts include site neutral payments and other provider reforms, certain drug reforms, a focus on Medicare Advantage overpayments, and reining in the provider taxes in Medicaid.   There are trillions in cuts over time here, but there would be impacts to coverage for sure.   Will the GOP’s plan eventually pass the no-coverage-impact litmus test? We shall see.   Connect with Marc   Marc on LinkedIn Marc on Twitter THL Podcast   Resources   THL’s Newsfeed THL’s Blog The Healthcare Labyrinth: A Guide to Navigating Health Plans and Fixing American Health Insurance