Ohio and the United States Department of Justice filed a complaint against OhioHealth Corporation in February 2026.  The complaint states that OhioHealth is the dominant hospital system in Columbus and alleges its market power comes from its size, the location of its facilities, and its control of rural hospitals that insurers need to include in some of their networks to maintain coverage.  The plaintiffs allege that OhioHealth negotiates on an all-or-nothing basis, requiring an insurer to include all of OhioHealth’s providers in its network if the insurer wants access to any of OhioHealth’s providers.

Insurers may offer a wide variety of plans to consumers with different price points; they may offer a broad network plan that includes nearly all providers in a relevant geographic area alongside more budget-friendly plans that only include a more limited panel of providers or that require consumers to pay more for choosing more expensive providers by placing providers in different tiers.  The complaint alleges that OhioHealth contractually restricts payers from offering more budget-friendly plans, such as those that use narrow or tiered networks, by effectively requiring insurers to include OhioHealth in all their commercial insurance products and be featured in the most favored level of benefits in each plan’s network, no matter how OhioHealth’s prices compare to those of its competitors. The complaint also alleges that OhioHealth’s contracts with insurers also limit what insurers can disclose about the price of health care services, preventing transparency and denying patients information about the cost of their care. The complaint alleges that by limiting the availability of budget-conscious plans and price transparency, OhioHealth eliminates competition by deterring other health care providers from competing for patients by reducing prices or increasing quality.

The U.S. DOJ and Ohio Attorney General’s Office bring a claim that OhioHealth’s conduct violates Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and Ohio brings a second claim under the Valentine Act, Ohio’s antitrust statute.