Connecticut is bracing for impact as Congress moves forward with deep cuts to HUSKY Medicaid, which provides health coverage to nearly one million patients across the state.

Clinics warn that the changes could leave many of those people uninsured – and even congressional Republicans are divided about how much to slash the popular program.

Congress backed off the most severe cuts, including across-the-board caps on payments to states.

But the GOP proposal still slashes $715 billion in Medicaid spending over the next decade – and would leave 8.6 million Americans uninsured – according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That's despite repeated promises from President Donald Trump to protect Medicaid.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees health care spending, unveiled the details late Sunday night. It’s part of the Trump administration’s pledge to cut $1.5 trillion in “waste, fraud and abuse.”

“You got to find it in Medicaid,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). “And it’s not cuts. It’s redoing something that's aligning the language of who qualifies and who doesn’t.”

The Medicaid overhaul could hit Connecticut especially hard.

States that extend coverage to undocumented immigrants would face penalties. Hospital taxes would also be frozen, potentially leaving the state to pay for a much bigger share of HUSKY Medicaid costs.

“It attempts to restrict Connecticut’s ability to use our own money – not the federal dollars, but our own money – to pay for health care for immigrant kids,” said state Sen. Matt Lesser (D-Middletown).

Patients would see major changes too, including new co-pays for doctor visits and work requirements. But about 92% of Medicaid enrollees are already working, attending school or caregiving, according to an analysis by KFF, a health policy research firm.

Critics said the overhaul would bury struggling families in paperwork.

“With constant audits, eligibility determinations, and what they call ‘work requirements,’ but what we know is a job loss penalty,” Lesser said.

Republicans have suggested a work requirement similar to the conditions for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps. Those ages 16 to 59 must work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month if they are not in school, caring for a child under age 6, disabled, pregnant or homeless.

Low-income clinics like the Norwalk Community Health Center believe the cuts could actually cost taxpayers more.

“At some point, these individuals are going to go through the emergency departments at their local hospitals, and that cost is much higher than it would be in a preventative setting, like what we do here,” said CEO Kenneth Waller. “There are going to be a lot of individuals who are going to lose access to coverage.”

Medicaid changes are far from a done deal.

The program is popular in both red and blue states, and some Republicans are wary of voter backlash.

“I think any time it looks like we're actually hurting people, that’s going to piss off the American population, and if you piss them off, they're probably not going to vote for you,” said Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.).

With a razor-thin seven-seat majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, moderates and fiscal hardliners will have to come together to overhaul the program.

“My colleagues who do not want to address that are burying their head in the sand and already trying to worry about elections next year when the best way to win elections is to actually deliver,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has set a Memorial Day deadline to wrap-up budget negotiations. He sought to reassure families on Monday.

“You’re talking about pregnant mothers and young, single mothers and the elderly and disabled,” Johnson said. “Those folks are covered and no one loses their coverage.”

But Tom Swan with the Connecticut Citizens Action Group doesn’t buy it.

“You’re going to yank health care from kids, from senior citizens, in order to fund a tax cut for Elon Musk,” he said.