Business & Finance
Disney restricts spousal health coverage starting in 2027 amid rising healthcare costs
The company will end health plan eligibility for employees' spouses and domestic partners who can get coverage through their own employers.
The short version
- Starting in 2027, Disney will no longer allow spouses or domestic partners of its employees to join company-sponsored health plans if they have coverage options through their own employers.
- Children of employees remain eligible for coverage, and vision and dental plan eligibility for spouses will not change.
- The decision reflects broader corporate efforts to control healthcare expenses as U.S. employers face a projected 11.1 percent cost increase in 2027, driven largely by rising costs for medical care, oncology treatments, and GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
Key facts
- Disney notified staff that spouses and domestic partners who have access to healthcare coverage through their own employer will be ineligible for Disney-sponsored health plans beginning in 2027.[The Hollywood Reporter]
- The change affects workers across Disney and its subsidiaries, including ESPN, ABC News, Marvel, and Searchlight Pictures.[The Hollywood Reporter]
- Disney is maintaining coverage eligibility for employees' children and is keeping spousal vision and dental benefits unchanged.[The Hollywood Reporter]
- A survey by WTW projects that U.S. healthcare costs for employers will rise by 11.1 percent in 2027, propelled by high costs for cancer treatments and GLP-1 obesity medications.[The Hollywood Reporter]
- Other major firms, including Starbucks, Zoom, and Deloitte, have also moved to reduce or adjust various employee benefits to curb expenses.[The Hollywood Reporter]
What remains uncertain
- It is uncertain exactly how many of Disney's approximately 160,000 employees will be affected by the new spousal health benefit restrictions.[The Hollywood Reporter]
Sources
- Disney Tightens Spousal Health Benefits as Industry Costs SurgeThe Hollywood Reporter metered