(C) Arizona Mirror
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Hobbs signs order for statewide prescription drug discount program [1]
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Date: 2025-08
Arizona is joining with five other states to offer residents discounts on prescription drugs, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced Wednesday morning.
The ArrayRX discount card program won’t be available to Arizonans until early 2026, but Christian Slater, a spokesman for the governor, told the Arizona Mirror that the executive order Hobbs signed Wednesday morning instructing the Department of Health Services to join the program was a crucial first step in the process.
The Grand Canyon State will join Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Ohio and Connecticut as part of the nonprofit collaborative that is aimed at helping Arizonans obtain essential and preventative medicines at lower prices.
A May 2025 health tracking poll from KFF found that nearly half of U.S. adults surveyed said that paying for health care was difficult for them and about one-third of respondents said they’d delayed care in the past year due to costs. KFF is a nonprofit focused on health policy and analysis.
The discount cards will be free to Arizonans and provide discounts on all FDA-approved prescriptions, and some over-the-counter drugs and items like diabetes testing supplies, according to the governor’s office.
The cards can be used at most pharmacies across the country, and provide up to 80% discounts on generic drugs and up to 18% on name-brand prescriptions. The discounts are expected to benefit people with high-deductible insurance, those without good prescription benefits and people who are uninsured.
“For too long and for too many families, rising costs, including prescription drug prices, have put the Arizona Promise out of reach. We are changing that,” Hobbs said during a Wednesday morning press briefing. “I’m proud to take action to keep money in Arizonans’ pockets, create pathways to health and wellbeing, and restore the Arizona Promise for families across the state.”
A key difference between the public pharmacy collaborative discount cards and other discount programs already available to Arizonans, like Goodrx, is that ArrayRx is run by a steering committee of “committed public servants” with the promise not to sell user data.
“I have witnessed firsthand the transformative impact the collaborative efforts from dedicated public servants can have on our communities,” Dr. Trevor Douglass, director of the Prescription Drug Program at the Oregon Health Authority, said during the Wednesday morning press briefing. “ArrayRx represents a significant step toward our shared mission and goal to ensure that everyone, regardless of their background or financial situation, has access to the medications that they need to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.”
The prescription discount card program was created when Washington and Oregon partnered to form the Northwest Prescription Drug Consortium in 2006, to lower costs by negotiating discounts with manufacturers and establishing discounts based on volume purchasing.
The name was changed to ArrayRx in 2022 when other states began to join.
“We have created a robust partnership that leverages our collective members’ expertise, knowledge and purchasing power,” Douglass, who is a member of the ArrayRx steering committee, said. “This collaboration allows us to negotiate better pricing, streamline administrative processes, and ultimately deliver more value for the people that we serve in each of our states.”
Hobbs made the ArrayRx announcement at the start of a packed day on her Arizona Promise Tour, which she started earlier this year to remind residents of her accomplishments as governor. Stops on the tour aren’t campaign events but the governor, a Democrat, is running for reelection in 2026.
On Wednesday, Hobbs also chatted with a single mother of four in North Phoenix who used the Efficiency Arizona program to install energy-efficient appliances; visited a family who purchased their first home through the Arizona is Home program; stopped at a middle school to celebrate the elimination of co-pays for reduced price school meals; visited Phoenix Electrical Apprenticeship Program to highlight Arizona’s investments in expanding technical training opportunities and did a meet and greet with state troopers and dispatchers to highlight their 5% pay increase in the state budget.
On Thursday Hobbs plans to continue her Arizona Promise Tour with stops in Nogales, San Simon and Tucson.
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[1] Url:
https://azmirror.com/briefs/hobbs-signs-order-for-statewide-prescription-drug-discount-program/
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