COLUMBUS — Ohioans shopping for health coverage for 2027 have a new option in most of the state. Oscar Health announced Tuesday that its individual-market plans are now available in 73 of Ohio’s 88 counties for the 2027 open enrollment period, after the insurer entered 33 new counties including the Akron, Canton, Toledo and Youngstown areas, according to the company’s announcement released through Business Wire.
The expansion makes Oscar one of the broadest individual-market offerings in Ohio at a moment when open enrollment decisions carry real weight for families who buy their own coverage. Enrollment for the 2027 plan year opened Nov. 1, and coverage under plans chosen now begins Jan. 1, 2027, the company said. Shoppers can enroll through Healthcare.gov, by phone, or through an insurance agent.
“Oscar is committed to Ohio and making quality healthcare more accessible across the state,” Liz Drury, Oscar’s Ohio market president, said in the company’s announcement. “We’re proud to bring Oscar’s superior member experience to even more Ohioans through our tailored plans, giving them access to trusted local providers.”
Oscar has sold plans in Ohio since 2018, and the company said close to four in five of its members recommend it to family and friends. Its Ohio portfolio includes Bronze, Silver and Gold plans, which the company describes as built around $0 primary care and $0 virtual care with 24/7 availability on many plans, dedicated care guides, and low-cost prescriptions with home delivery. Many medical plans also embed dental and vision coverage, including $0 preventive dental checkups and $0 eye exams, according to the announcement.
Beyond the standard metal-tier plans, the company is marketing plans aimed at specific life stages and conditions. A plan called RetireEase is pitched at workers moving from early retirement toward Medicare, building on an earlier menopause-focused plan, and condition-focused plans target members living with diabetes, COPD, asthma and cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic conditions. Oscar says those condition plans carry features such as $0 insulin and inhalers, $0 labs and $0 specialist visits for the relevant conditions, with claimed savings of 15 to 25 percent for members who use them.
The announcement also pitches Oscar to employers through what it calls CHOICE Arrangements, formerly known as ICHRA plans, under which a business gives workers a monthly contribution to buy their own individual coverage instead of offering a traditional group plan. Drury said in the announcement that the arrangements let employees “select coverage that works for them and their families” while giving employers predictable benefit budgets.
Every membership also comes with Oswell, an AI health guide the company says turns complex coverage questions into personalized guidance, and a rewards program called Oscar Unlocks, under which members can earn up to $125 a year in points for healthy actions and apply a savings card toward premiums, according to the announcement. The life-stage and condition plans are the company’s clearest signal of who it is courting in the new counties: early retirees not yet on Medicare, and people managing chronic conditions whose specialist and prescription costs decide whether a plan feels affordable.
For employers, the CHOICE pitch is administrative as much as financial. The company says tax-free employer contributions let workers pick the individual plan that fits them, while CHOICE administrators handle the transition and implementation, and businesses can enroll their teams online or through their broker, according to the announcement. It is a model that shifts the shopping work — and the network-checking risk described above — from a benefits office to each employee.
One caution in the company’s own announcement deserves shoppers’ attention: Oscar sells two different provider networks in Ohio — one that includes the Cleveland Clinic and one that does not. Anyone considering a switch should confirm that their own doctor and hospital system are in the network of the specific plan they choose before enrolling, because the same insurer’s name can sit on plans with very different provider lists.
The expansion lands in a state where health coverage and health costs are a live local issue at every level. In Delaware County, commissioners have just handed EMS billing to a private firm as county funding ends, and in Wood County a new children’s crisis center is waiting on state certification before it can open its doors — reminders that the system Ohioans are buying into is itself in transition.
What happens next is in shoppers’ hands. Open enrollment for 2027 coverage is under way now, and the coverage Ohioans pick will take effect Jan. 1, 2027. Oscar’s arrival in 33 more counties does not change anyone’s current plan by itself — but for residents of the Akron, Canton, Toledo and Youngstown areas who buy on the individual marketplace, it adds one more set of prices, networks and benefits to compare before the enrollment window closes.