A new Government Accountability Office report released July 22 finds that some of the largest and most profitable American corporations continue to pay wages so low that many employees must rely on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, both subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
The report, commissioned by Senator Bernie Sanders, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, analyzed data from 11 states representing nearly a fifth of the U.S. population. It found an estimated 13.8 million working Americans enrolled in Medicaid and 10.6 million depended on SNAP to support themselves and their families despite full-time employment—an increase from 12 million and 9 million, respectively, since a similar report in 2020.
Sanders said, “American taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the starvation wages of large corporations like Walmart and Amazon. These corporations are making record-breaking profits, paying their CEOs exorbitant compensation packages and spending billions of dollars on stock buybacks to enrich their wealthy shareholders. It is beyond unacceptable that these corporations, owned by some of the wealthiest people on the planet, are receiving corporate welfare from the federal government.” He continued, “It is time for the Walton family, worth $485 billion, and Mr. Bezos, worth $257 billion, to get off of welfare and pay their workers a living wage with good benefits. No one who works for a company making billions in profits should be living in poverty.”
The GAO found Walmart employed 16,055 workers relying on Medicaid—a 55% increase—and 15,515 needing SNAP assistance across sampled states during this period as its annual profits rose from $14.88 billion to $21.89 billion. Amazon’s annual profits increased from $11.59 billion to $77.67 billion while it employed nearly triple its previous number of workers requiring federal assistance: 12,346 needed SNAP support; 11,338 relied on Medicaid.
FedEx saw its number of employees using Medicaid more than triple (from 1,046 to 3,814) while those needing SNAP nearly doubled (from 2,622 to 4,944). Rideshare companies now also rank among top employers with high numbers of program recipients alongside McDonald’s and Dollar General.
The Senate Health Committee oversees legislation affecting public health programs such as Medicaid nationwide, according to the official website. The committee also provides oversight for agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health.