Taxpayers fund $2 billion in Medicaid for Walmart workers

Taxpayers are spending about $2 billion a year on Medicaid for Walmart and Amazon employees, a bill that has grown alongside Walmart’s profits, which climbed from nearly $15 billion in 2020 to $22 billion by 2025. In 11 sampled states, the number of Walmart workers relying on Medicaid rose 55% over that same period.

The numbers put a hard price tag on a long-running Walmart problem: low hourly pay and unstable schedules can leave associates relying on public coverage to fill gaps in employer benefits. Walmart’s own earnings have moved in the opposite direction, and the contrast is hard to miss for store workers trying to keep a doctor, a prescription or a child’s coverage in reach.

This is not a new issue. A 2020 Government Accountability Office study found Walmart and McDonald’s were among the top employers of people enrolled in Medicaid and food stamps. In sample data cited at the time, Walmart employed an estimated 3,959 workers on Medicaid, about 2.1% of the total of non-elderly, non-disabled people in the dataset. That earlier snapshot showed a workforce already leaning on public assistance while the company’s business kept expanding.

The latest figures suggest the pattern has only deepened. Rising Medicaid use among Walmart employees in the sampled states came as the company’s profits increased by billions of dollars, underscoring how pay and benefit design can leave workers dependent on a program financed by taxpayers rather than the employer that employs them. Critics have argued for years that the public is subsidizing a business model built on wages that do not cover health costs.

For hourly associates, the practical issue is not the political fight but the paperwork and timing around hours, pay and enrollment. Any cut in weekly hours, change in store assignment, shift in household income or move between full-time and part-time status can affect whether employer coverage stays affordable and whether Medicaid becomes the backstop. Associates should review pay stubs, benefit notices and household eligibility before a coverage decision window closes, and they should recheck those details after any schedule change.

The broader debate is likely to keep following Walmart as lawmakers weigh Medicaid costs and work requirements. With Walmart still one of the country’s largest employers, the question is not whether associates will need care, but who pays when the job does not cover it.