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Ohio Department of Insurance presents flat-funded request, highlights consumer savings programs and mental-health work
Summary
An Ohio Department of Insurance representative presented a largely flat budget request tied to fee funding, highlighted the OSHIP program's savings, the Mental Health Insurance Assistance Office and a new provider payment-fee disclosure proposal, and described workforce and technology priorities.
A representative of the Ohio Department of Insurance presented the agency's biennial budget request and program priorities as part of the Sub. H.B. 96 hearing. The witness said the department is funded by agent and agency licensing fees and company examination fees and "is not a general revenue agency." The department requested just over $51,000,000 for FY26 (a 3.2% increase over FY25) and about $52,750,313 for FY27 (a 3.1% increase over FY26), according to testimony.
The witness gave agency statistics: Ohio's insurance market ranks among the largest in the U.S., more than 1,700 companies hold licenses to do business in Ohio and more than 250 companies are domiciled in-state, the witness said; the department also licenses and monitors more than 341,000 insurance agents and about 23,000 agencies. The department highlighted consumer programs it manages: the Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIP), credited in testimony with helping Ohioans save $54 million in 2024, and the Mental Health Insurance Assistance Office (MHIA), which the witness said is fully staffed and working to improve access to mental-health and substance-use-disorder benefits.
The department also described a budget language proposal, developed from a stakeholder working group, to require disclosure of third‑party payment fees charged to providers and present lower-cost payment options where available. The agency described workforce outreach aimed at shoring up talent for the insurance sector and said it is monitoring new technologies such as AI and cybersecurity.
No committee vote on the department's request was recorded in the hearing transcript.
