Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, REPORTS—GAO finds millions of working adults rely on Medicaid and SNAP, with large employers recurring among top-state lists, (Jul 28, 2026)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The report updates 2020 findings and identifies major employers appearing across multiple states’ Medicaid and SNAP enrollment data.

Millions of working adults continued to rely on Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in 2024 despite being employed, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The report found that many beneficiaries worked full time and that several large employers repeatedly appeared among the employers with the highest numbers of workers enrolled in Medicaid or receiving SNAP benefits in states that provided employment data. The report also updates a 2020 GAO review of workers participating in federal safety-net programs and was highlighted by Sanders as evidence that workers employed by large corporations continue to rely on Medicaid and SNAP benefits.

National findings. The June 2026 report analyzed Census Bureau survey data and employment information supplied by 15 agencies in 11 states. The GAO estimated that 13.8 million adults who worked at some point during 2024 were enrolled in Medicaid and that 10.6 million lived in households receiving SNAP benefits. The agency said those workers shared several labor characteristics, including predominantly working in the private sector, frequently working full-time schedules, and being concentrated in a limited number of industries and occupations.

According to the report, about two-thirds of wage-earning adult Medicaid enrollees and more than 70 percent of wage-earning SNAP recipients worked full time for at least part of 2024. About 88 percent of participants in both programs worked in the private sector. The agency also reported that more than one-third of wage-earning adults enrolled in Medicaid or receiving SNAP worked for employers with 1,000 or more employees. Thirty-five percent of Medicaid enrollees and 41.5 percent of SNAP recipients worked for employers of that size.

The GAO found that wage-earning adults enrolled in Medicaid or receiving SNAP were more likely than nonparticipants to work in the arts, entertainment and recreation, accommodation and food services industries, and in food preparation and serving occupations. Roughly 71 percent of wage-earning adult Medicaid enrollees and SNAP recipients worked in five industry categories: education, health care and social services; arts, entertainment and recreation and accommodation and food services; wholesale and retail trade; professional and administrative services; and manufacturing.

Employer analysis across 11 states. Using state data from September 2025, the GAO analyzed employers of nondisabled, nonelderly working adult Medicaid enrollees and working adult SNAP recipients. The agency found that employers with the largest numbers of enrolled workers varied across the 11 states that supplied data, but 46 companies appeared among the top 25 employers of Medicaid enrollees or SNAP beneficiaries in at least two states. Seventeen of those companies were among the 50 largest Fortune 500 companies by number of employees.

Among Medicaid data reviewed by the GAO, Walmart ranked first in Georgia, Indiana and Oklahoma and appeared among the top employers in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Amazon ranked second in Georgia, second in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, third in Indiana, and second in Oklahoma. Other employers that repeatedly appeared in state Medicaid data included Dollar General, McDonald’s, FedEx, Target, Dollar Tree, and Walgreens.

In SNAP data from Georgia, Indiana, and Arkansas, Walmart, Amazon, Dollar General, McDonald’s, FedEx, and Dollar Tree were among the employers with the largest estimated numbers of working adult SNAP recipients.

Comparison with 2020 report. The HELP Committee said the updated report found an estimated 13.8 million working adults enrolled in Medicaid and 10.6 million living in households receiving SNAP benefits, compared with 12 million and 9 million, respectively, in the GAO's 2020 report. The committee said the new report builds on the earlier review using data from 11 states. Sanders said the findings show that workers employed by large corporations continue to rely on Medicaid and SNAP benefits. He said taxpayers "should not be forced to subsidize the starvation wages of large corporations like Walmart and Amazon" and called on large employers to pay workers "a living wage with good benefits."

State-level enrollment findings. The report found that nondisabled, nonelderly working adult Medicaid enrollees accounted for between 15 percent and 62 percent of adult Medicaid enrollees in the six states that provided data. Working adult SNAP recipients accounted for between 13 percent and 35 percent of adult SNAP recipients in the nine states that provided data. In both programs, those workers were employed overwhelmingly in the private sector.

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