Warren, Wyden, Sanders Announce New Investigation into Equifax’s Plan to Profit from Trump’s So-Called Work Requirements in Medicaid, SNAP

Warren, Wyden, Sanders Announce New Investigation into Equifax's Plan to Profit from Trump's So-Called Work Requirements in Medicaid, SNAP

Equifax CEO calls new work requirements "a big positive" for the company as it holds a near monopoly on employment verification services

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Development Committee; Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee; and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, announced a new investigation today into Equifax's reported plan to profit off of so-called work requirements in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which will rip away health care and food assistance from millions of Americans.

As a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states will need to verify the work, volunteer, and/or school attendance status of tens of millions of low-income adults to determine their eligibility for Medicaid and SNAP. However, experience indicates that these new requirements will not increase employment - but will cost millions of Americans their eligibility for benefits.

"[This move] will ensure more Americans get tangled up in red tape and lose essential health care coverage and food assistance as a result. That these requirements could allow Equifax to profiteer off of this 'solution' make them even more egregious," warned the senators.

Equifax, a dominant player in the employment verification market, "borders on a monopoly," with about half of states using the company's database, Work Number, to access employment and income data and automate the eligibility verification process for public assistance programs.

"Equifax's long history of anti-competitive behavior raises serious concerns about the company's potential moves to price gouge states and taxpayers," wrote the senators.

By entering into multi-year exclusive deals with large payroll software providers and employers, Equifax is able to deny competitors access to critical data inputs. Reports show that due to these exclusive contracts, Equifax has effectively disabled competitors from acquiring income information. In January 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau further fined Equifax $15 million for failing to sufficiently investigate consumer-reported errors in its credit reports.

Equifax also has a record of using its dominance in the industry to force price hikes on states where they hold contracts. For example, Equifax increased its per-query rates by 126% in Colorado, 120% in Kansas, 95% in North Carolina, and 69% in Connecticut over four years. In 2024, the St. Louis Housing Authority, which had used Work Number since 2019, sued Equifax over unjustified price increases. In response, Equifax cited a clause in their contract that gave it the "categorical right" to change prices with 30 days' notice.

"Equifax appears poised to squeeze states even more thanks to President Trump and Republicans' new red-tape requirements…States will have to depend even more on Equifax to verify employment data, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for Equifax's giant price hikes," the senators concluded.

The senators asked Equifax to commit to removing contractual language allowing the company to price gouge taxpayers, share its plan to prevent and fix errors that cause people to lose their benefits, and disclose lobbying expenditures in support of work requirements. The senators requested a response by February 16, 2026.

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