Bank Of America, Macy’s Workers Relying On Medicaid

If you think about who is on Medicaid, workers at Bank of America and Macy’s probably don’t come to mind.

And yet both companies employ people either enrolled themselves in the government health care program, or whose children are enrolled.

Walmart tops the list. As of May, 3,654 people in Connecticut who use Medicaid were themselves employed by Walmart or they were children of Walmart workers. That’s a 64 percent increase for the company since 2005.

It means the workers’ wages were low enough to qualify them or their dependents for the free health care program. It also means they either opted out of paying for health insurance offered to them through work, or the health insurance wasn’t offered. It could also mean the health insurance offered through work wasn’t worth the premium employees would have paid, or it was worth it but too pricey.

Rounding out the top five companies in Connecticut, and the number of Medicaid recipients affiliated with each as of May 2011:

Dunkin Donuts, 3,186; Stop & Shop, 2,828; First Student (the school bus company), 1,945; McDonald’s, 1,931.

HUSKY A, the state Medicaid program, is free health care coverage for children under 19 and for parents who live with a child under 19 if the annual household income is less than $55,482 for a family of six, less than $41,348 for a family of four, or less than $27,214 for a family of two.

The information was in a report published last month by the state Office of Legislative Research that looks at recipients of HUSKY A, the state’s Medicaid benefits.

Officials at Walmart and Dunkin Donuts were not available late Tuesday. An official at Stop & Shop declined to comment.

Macy’s ranks 11th on the list of the top 25 employers whose workers, or their children, use Medicaid.  Bank of America ranked  25th.

The list also includes Hartford Hospital (17) and the state of Connecticut (20) among a number of fast-food restaurants, drug stores, big-box retailers and department stores.

For the entire list, click here.