Pulse brief · 1 cited source · July 16, 2026
California moves to name large employers whose workers rely on Medi-Cal
A revived disclosure bill would identify companies with 100 or more employees that have workers on Medi-Cal, as a January work-requirement deadline approaches.
California state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas is pushing to revive an expired law requiring the state to identify companies that employ 100 or more people and have workers enrolled in Medi-Cal, timed against the Trump administration's January deadline for states to enforce new Medicaid work requirements. Nearly 5 million of the state's more than 14 million Medi-Cal enrollees will be subject to that rule. "Taxpayers deserve transparency about which large employers are shifting their healthcare costs onto the public," Smallwood-Cuevas said. The mechanism is not new: Nevada has had a naming law since 2017, and Walmart and Amazon, which regularly top its list, say the counts sweep in part-time and seasonal workers while their full-time hourly employees earn too much to qualify.
Evidence
Each statement shown below is a verified claim this source supports.
- California lawmakers are seeking to revive an expired law that would require the state to identify companies that employ 100 or more people and have employees enrolled in Medi-Cal.
- The Trump administration has set a January deadline for states to enforce new Medicaid work requirements.
- Democratic state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas is the author of the California bill.
- Nearly 5 million out of more than 14 million California residents on Medi-Cal will be subject to the work-requirement rule.
- Smallwood-Cuevas said "taxpayers deserve transparency about which large employers are shifting their healthcare costs onto the public."
- Nevada has had a similar naming law in place since 2017.
- Walmart and Amazon regularly top Nevada's list and have said the state included part-time and seasonal workers in the counts and that their full-time hourly employees make too much to qualify for Medicaid.