As the Walt Disney Co. enjoys another banner summer — its Toy Story franchise returned to bring in $1.1 billion globally and their 25% profit sharing deal for Spider-Man movies’ box office is likely feeling nice right now — staff across the brand and its subsidiaries received unprecedented news last week announcing changes to their spouses’ health benefits eligibility, in a move that may signal a wider corporate trend as costs rise
Employees at Disney and its portfolio of brands — including Marvel, ABC News, ESPN and Searchlight Pictures — learned this week that the company will no longer allow spouses or domestic partners to join Disney-sponsored health plans if they have access to coverage through their own employer. The change was announced last week and takes effect in 2027
“Like a growing number of large employers, we’re making measured adjustments to our employee benefits in response to rising healthcare costs nationwide,” a Disney representative said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We will be communicating these changes in more detail with our employees over the next few months. As always, we remain committed to providing our employees with a comprehensive package of high-quality coverage and other benefits that support their total health and well-being.”
Disney noted that other elements of its Total Rewards package are unchanged: Employees’ children will remain eligible for coverage, and no changes are planned to spousal access to vision and dental plans. Still, the shift creates a new decision point for tens of thousands of the company’s roughly 160,000 employees, known internally as Cast Members
Because coverage quality and specifics vary from plan to plan, spouses with ongoing treatment extending into 2027 — including those on maintenance medications — will need to make quick decisions about how to proceed, on top of weighing the cost of whatever plan they move to
Disney isn’t alone in looking for ways to offset the rising cost of health coverage, which remains tied to employment for millions of Americans. U.S. employers expect healthcare costs to rise 11.1 percent in 2027, according to arecent WTW survey — the sharpest projected increase in two decades. In 2025, WTW found employers paid an average of $16,818 per employee for coverage, with employees contributing an average of $3,554 — about $296 a month out of pocket
The increases are being driven largely by the rising cost of care and medication, particularly cancer treatment and obesity drugs. Asurvey from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found that 86 percent of employers reported an increase in oncology spending in 2025 compared with the prior year, a median rise of 11 percent from 2024 to 2025. Meanwhile, employer-plan spending and utilization of GLP-1 drugs — diabetes medications widely used for weight loss — have risen roughly 50 percent–65 percent since 2023.
The solution Disney has arrived at may shift some spouses off of their insurance, but as Alison Myers, president of Corporate Benefits & Specialty Health at Venbrook Insurance Services, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, they can’t really force risk off their plan. Spouses make up 50% of the high-cost claims of large employers, and the decision-makers at these companies don’t see their staff as costly — it’s their dependents racking up the hospital and pharmacy bills.
“The problem is spouses who are sick, and if Disney has better insurance, the employee is going to say, ‘the cost-benefit analysis for me to pay the extra 200 or 300 bucks to keep my spouse on this plan, because it’s a better plan, is worth it.” she explained, “And that high cost claim is going to live on their losses. I don’t think it’s a great risk mitigation tool because at the end of the day…employees are going to have the option of whether or not to pay the subsidy or not. And if that spouse doesn’t have better insurance, they’re a high utilizer.”
Disney is not the only company responding to these cost increases by shifting around the benefits offered to staff. Starbucks is ending GLP-1 coverage for weight loss, and Zoom is cutting down the amount of time it offers for paid family leave. At Deloitte, paid family leave will also be reduced, as will paid time off, and cuts have been made to pension accruals and adoption/surrogacy/IVF reimbursement for certain U.S. employees
All of these benefit reductions may create a moment of decision-making for corporate staffers, and for some, it’s deeply personal. As costs shift, some employees may ditch health care benefits altogether or potentially jump ship.
“Benefit cost increases are the steepest we’ve seen in years, but the price tag is only one way to measure the cost of care,” Myers said. “Losing a winning team of employees is far more expensive.”
