In Oregon, big grocery, retail companies have highest number of employees on Medicaid

Multi-billion-dollar grocers and retailers such as Walmart and Amazon were among the most listed employers on Oregonians’ applications for publicly-funded health insurance last year, according to a Capital Chronicle analysis of Oregon Health Authority data.

The data, taken from Medicaid income verification forms, shows that dozens of major national and multinational corporations that often pay relatively low hourly or median wages rely on the government’s health insurance program for low-income and disabled people to cover the costs of thousands of their Oregon employees’ healthcare.

Most don’t sponsor health insurance for all employees, but only for those who work at least 30 hours a week or who hold some special and seasonal roles. The U.S., unlike most economically prosperous countries, does not provide universal government-sponsored healthcare, and Americans spend more per capita on healthcare than any other population in the world.

The Capital Chronicle requested data showing the 500 most frequently listed employers on Medicaid income-verification forms received between January 2025 and December 2025, and the frequency each employer was listed. More than 118,000 Medicaid applicants or recipients listed one of these 500 employers on their forms — representing nearly 14% of the more than 860,000 working-age adults in Oregon covered by Medicaid.

Walmart was the most-listed employer on Oregonians’ Medicaid paperwork — both those working full and part-time. Safeway and parent company Albertsons were close behind. Online retail giant Amazon and its affiliates, including Whole Foods, came in fourth, followed by Fred Meyer and its parent company Kroger.

One in six of the most listed employers on Medicaid forms in Oregon was a major grocer and retailer.

Those same companies were among the top five employers listed on income verification forms for SNAP — the public assistance program for low-income Americans to cover their food costs — the Capital Chronicle recently reported. One in five of those most commonly listed employers on those forms was a major grocer and retailer.

A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that since 2020 the number of Amazon employees using SNAP and Medicaid tripled.

Businesses tout benefits

Spokespersons for Amazon, Walmart and the Northwest Grocery Retail Association defended wages they said were significantly higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, which hasn’t changed since 2009. Oregon’s minimum wage, which increases annually, is $14.55 in rural counties, $16.80 in the Portland metro area and $15.55 in the rest of the state as of July 1. The average hourly wage of a Walmart employee in Oregon is $20.51 per hour, according to company spokesperson Jimmy Carter.

Company spokespersons also touted the benefits they offer the majority of their employees and said Medicaid enrollment does not necessarily indicate that employer-sponsored coverage isn’t available.

“Medicaid eligibility is based on total household income and family size, not an individual’s wages or whether their employer offers coverage,” Alisa Carroll, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement. “Two employees earning identical pay can have entirely different eligibility outcomes depending on their household circumstances and the state in which they live.”

Carroll added that in 2025 the company invested $1 billion in higher wages and lowering healthcare costs for its U.S. operations employees.

After large grocery retailers, the industry employing the largest number of Oregonians on Medicaid is fast food, followed by home healthcare workers and temporary staffing agencies. Home healthcare and fast food companies are also among those most listed on Oregonians’ SNAP verification forms.

States to lose billions

As more companies rely on Medicaid to provide healthcare coverage for their employees, the program is enduring historic funding cuts as part of a 2025 congressional Republican tax cut and spending law, which added new Medicaid eligibility requirements and restrictions for states starting in January.

The Oregon Health Authority expects the state to lose about $9.4 billion in federal Medicaid funding during the next decade because of those changes, among which is a new requirement that nondisabled enrollees aged 19 to 64 prove they are working, volunteering or in school at least 80 hours a month. More than 60% of the state’s current Medicaid recipients are in that age range, according to health authority data.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that more than 5 million Americans could be uninsured by 2034 under the rules. The state health authority estimates about 200,000 Oregonians could lose coverage because of the change.

The same GOP tax and spending cut law extended and expanded President Donald Trump’s 2017 corporate and income tax cuts, saving Amazon and Walmart billions of dollars they would otherwise have paid in income taxes to fund programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

Today, Walmart’s effective income tax rate is about half of what it was 10 years ago, according to the left-leaning think tank Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Amazon, which saw its pre-tax U.S. profits increase by nearly 45% last year to almost $90 billion, paid in 2025 half of the taxes it had in the previous two years: about $2.8 billion, down from $7 billion in 2024 and 2023.

Alan Dubinsky, a spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union Local 49, said large corporations are taking advantage of the public healthcare system to subsidize their profits. The union represents more than 15,000 healthcare and building service workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington, who he said are already grappling with funding issues expected to get worse with the new Medicaid cuts.

“Our feeling about this is that it’s time for corporations working in our communities to step up for our communities,” he said. “Stop gouging the state and provide healthcare for your workers. If Jeff Bezos can afford hundreds of billions of dollars to build data centers, he can afford to provide healthcare for the people that built this wealth for him through their labor.”

States begin to call out big businesses

Some states are considering fines for companies that have large numbers of employees enrolled in Medicaid, according to reporting in KFF Health News. New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill in June signed into law new penalties for companies that have 50 or more employees enrolled. Companies with 50 to 249 Medicaid-enrolled workers will have to pay the state $325 per year per employee, and companies that have 500 or more employees enrolled will be fined $725 per employee per year.

Similar proposals in Washington and Colorado failed to pass during legislative sessions this year.

Other states, such as Oregon, have proposed laws that would mimic what Nevada’s Health Authority has been required to produce since 2020: An annual public report listing the companies with the most employees on Medicaid. Amazon and Walmart have made the top five every year.

Oregon lawmakers’ attempt during the 2026 legislative session to mandate the Oregon Health Authority produce a similar annual report passed in the House but died in the Senate Rules Committee.