U.S. News

A Federal Lawsuit Just Forced Ohio’s Biggest Hospital Chain to Stop Blocking Lower-Cost Insurance

By Erica Coleman · June 18, 2026

For years, OhioHealth — the dominant hospital system in Columbus and central Ohio — required health insurers to include all of its hospitals in their networks or none of them. Insurers who wanted to cover OhioHealth’s flagship Riverside Methodist Hospital had to cover every OhioHealth facility, at OhioHealth’s prices. Lower-cost tiered plans that might steer patients to cheaper alternatives were effectively blocked.

The Department of Justice and the Ohio Attorney General announced Thursday that OhioHealth has agreed to settle federal antitrust allegations stemming from those contracting practices. Under the settlement, OhioHealth is prohibited from using all-or-nothing contract requirements with insurers. A compliance monitor will oversee the system for five years. There is no financial penalty and no admission of wrongdoing.

The DOJ’s complaint alleged that OhioHealth’s contracting practices suppressed competition in the Columbus metropolitan area by preventing insurers from designing benefit plans that might direct patients to lower-cost providers. When insurers can’t build tiered or narrow networks, patients lose the ability to choose plans that reward them for using cost-effective care. The practical effect: OhioHealth maintained pricing power that would have eroded in a more competitive market.

Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division was direct about the stakes.

“Anticompetitive contracting by powerful hospital systems drives up healthcare costs for patients, employers, and insurers. Today’s settlement will restore competition and give consumers access to more affordable insurance options.”

The settlement requires a 60-day public comment period before it takes effect. During that window, insurers, employers, patient advocates, and competing health systems can file comments with the court.

The OhioHealth case is not isolated. The DOJ filed an identical antitrust lawsuit against New York-Presbyterian Hospital in March, alleging the same all-or-nothing contracting practices in the New York metropolitan area. That case is still pending. Thursday’s OhioHealth settlement establishes the legal framework and the remedy the DOJ will seek — making it the de facto precedent for the NYP case and potentially for similar investigations in other markets.

For patients in central Ohio, the change may take time to show up in their insurance options. Insurers will need to negotiate new contract structures with OhioHealth before they can build the tiered and narrow network plans the settlement now permits. Open enrollment for 2027 coverage begins in October.