Health care providers, health care institutions and drug manufacturers may not pay patients' health insurance premiums (unless federal law expressly allows it), and doctors, nurses and licensed health care institutions may not advise patients to join or leave a specific insurer's plan unless the person advising is a licensed insurance producer.
Official title: health insurance; patient steering; prohibition
- September 12, 2026
What changes
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NowExcept as federal law expressly allows, it is a felony for a health care provider, health care institution or drug manufacturer to pay, directly or indirectly, the premiums or subscription fees for a patient's health plan. This does not cover the payer's own employees or their dependents. Such payments are also treated as a prohibited insurance rebate.
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NowIt is a felony for a licensed insurance producer (insurance agent), or a person required to be licensed as one, to knowingly give false or fraudulent information about a person's eligibility for or enrollment in AHCCCS (Arizona's Medicaid program) in connection with a health plan application, enrollment or coverage change.
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NowMedical doctors, osteopathic doctors, nurses and licensed health care institutions may not advise a patient, directly or through staff, to enroll in or leave a specific insurer's plan unless the person advising is a licensed insurance producer. For doctors and nurses this counts as unprofessional conduct. They may still tell patients whether they are in or out of network with an insurer or plan.
BeforeKickbacks or fee-splitting for referring patients to or from a sober living home or substance use disorder treatment facility were felonies, from class 6 to class 3 depending on the value involved.
NowThe kickback ban names insurance producers and covers referrals to a sober living home or from a sober living home to any other health care institution. Same felony levels apply. A court must also order a civil penalty of at least $1,000 per violation, doubled for someone convicted 2 or more times within 10 years.
Before'Soliciting' insurance, which requires an insurance producer license, meant trying to sell insurance or urging someone to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular company.
NowSoliciting also includes regularly steering or encouraging people in Arizona with a known health condition to drop or let lapse their health plan and buy a replacement plan.
Who it affects
- Patients and people enrolled in health plans, including Medicare and AHCCCS plans
- Doctors, nurses and other licensed health care providers and their staff
- Insurance producers (agents)
- Drug manufacturers
- Sober living homes and other health care institutions
- Health insurance navigators and certified application counselors
- Arizona medical, osteopathic and nursing boards
What you need to do
Nothing.
What the law doesn't answer
- What federal law expressly allows providers or drug manufacturers to pay patients' premiums
- What happens to premium-assistance arrangements already in place when the law takes effect
- What discipline the medical, osteopathic and nursing boards will impose for the new unprofessional conduct
- What counts as a 'known health condition' for the steering rule
- Who receives the civil penalty money
This summary describes the law as enacted. Later laws, court rulings or referendum petitions can change the picture. Check the official text for the current wording.