The last county in the nation that didn’t have a private insurance company to choose from on the Affordable Care Act exchange was in Ohio. But now people in that northwest Ohio county have an option.



Paulding County, on the Indiana border, was the only so-called “bare” county without any insurer offering coverage under Obamacare. Department of Insurance Director Jillian Froment says Dayton-based CareSource has agreed to provide insurance under the federal exchange for Paulding County for the next year.

“ We simply asked for a one year, basically a band-aid, to try to address our concerns while the federal government works on something that’s more permanent.

Anthem had dropped out of Ohio’s Obamacare marketplace in June, leaving 20 counties without options. Last month, five insurers stepped in to offer coverage in all but Paulding County. With this announcement, every county in the US will have at least one health insurer offering coverage through the ACA exchanges next year.

