Arizona governor touts state-issued discount prescription card

PHOENIX — Unable to get traction on her 2024 controversial plan to cap drug prices, Gov. Katie Hobbs is now pursuing an alternate approach: a state-issued discount card.

An executive order signed Wednesday joins Arizona with other states that issue cards that can give an average 18% discount for named prescription drugs, with an average markdown of 80% for generics. There is no cost for the card.

If all of that sounds familiar, it should: Various private companies like GoodRx, SingleCare and WellRx already offer such cards, without cost — and with the same promised savings.

But Hobbs said this Array Rx program, which already includes Connecticut, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, is different because it is a nonprofit consortium.

“Our sole focus is on lowering drug costs for our constituents,’’ she said. “It’s not on profits.’’

And Dr. Trevor Douglass, director of the Oregon Prescription Drug Program, said there’s something else.

“We don’t sell any of our information to anybody and we protect the public’s information,’’ he said.

But while Hobbs signed the executive order Wednesday, it will be some time before anyone can enroll. The ArrayRx website reports that “Arizona residents will qualify in early 2026.’’

The governor’s action comes more than a year after she proposed caps on prescription drug prices. That comprehensive plan included the creation of a Prescription Drug Affordability and Transparency Board, which would determine what companies could charge for their prescription drugs.

No such plan ever was introduced.

Eva Burch, then a Democratic senator from Mesa, did introduce a narrower version later in 2024 to require pharmacy benefit managers — the companies that purchase drugs for insurance companies that eventually wind up in the hands of their customers — to get state approval for price increases. That bill never got a hearing.

By contrast, having Arizona join with other states in the discount card program is something the Democratic governor can do on her own, without getting approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Hobbs said she has no idea how many Arizonans are likely to participate in the program once they become eligible. But Douglass said that there are benefits for everyone, including those who already have health insurance with drug coverage.

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“Sometimes paying for the prescription because the deductible is so high is more expensive through your health insurance than it would be using a discount card,’’ he said. Ditto, Douglass said, when it is the end of the plan year and there is a limit on coverage.

But he said even people with full insurance could benefit, especially if the “formulary’’ of what is covered is restrictive.

“Maybe the drug that their doctor prescribed for them isn’t on that formulary,’’ Douglass said. “And so this discount card would allow that patient to make that choice for themselves and get a discount on that medication.’’

This discount card program, Douglass said, has no formulary.

Dr. Steve Brown, a family practitioner, said he has seen what happens when patients can’t afford the drugs they are prescribed.

“Many patients miss doses of medicine,’’ said Brown who also is a professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. “Some of our patients sometimes choose between food, rent, and their prescriptions.’’

And he provided examples.

“I recently heard from a patient of mine who ended up in the emergency room with breathing problems from her asthma,’’ he said. “She couldn’t afford to pick up her inhaler from the pharmacy.’’

Brown also said there is a patient in his office who doesn’t take the blood thinner he needs to prevent strokes “because he can’t pay for it.’’

Dana Kennedy, the AARP state director, echoed the concerns.

“No one should skip insulin to pay rent,’’ she said.

At least part of the reason that the governor’s original 2024 proposal failed to launch was concerns by some lawmakers about the effects of what she was seeking.

“Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of price caps and don’t believe I’ve seen them work — unless you consider stifled innovation a good thing,’’ said Sen. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, about the plan. “I want to continue seeing advancements in modern medicine.’’