Health insurance

15 items, most far-reaching first.

Affects many Arizonans 4

Health care providers must now answer requests for medical records within set time limits: generally 10 or 15 business days when the records are needed for upcoming treatment, and 30 calendar days for other purposes such as lawsuits, insurance or schools.

InsurersHealth insurance HB2557In effect since September 12, 2026

This health budget law sets new eligibility checks for AHCCCS (Arizona's Medicaid program), creates a board that must approve the state employee health plan's benefits and rates, bars cities, towns and counties from using opioid settlement money for safer smoking equipment, and sets public meeting rules before federal rural health money is spent.

State government employeesLocal governmentsPeople with health insuranceOlder adultsHealth insurance HB4160Applies retroactively from June 30, 2026 (and 12 more dates)

Starting with health plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, the state-regulated insurers named in this law may not charge deductibles, copays or coinsurance for screening mammograms or for diagnostic and supplemental breast exams needed to complete screening, with a narrower rule for high deductible plans.

People with health insuranceInsurersHealth insuranceCancer screening SB1165In effect since September 12, 2026 (and 1 more date)

Under a statewide protocol approved by the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy, pharmacists may test for and start treatment for flu, strep throat, COVID-19 and certain public health threats without a doctor's oversight, and may start and dispense HIV prevention medication, subject to safety, consent, notice and recordkeeping rules.

Health insurance SB1713In effect since September 12, 2026 (and 1 more date)

Affects specific groups 9

The law that sets when Arizona State Retirement System retirees get help paying health insurance premiums now spells out what an employer's "active employee group health and accident insurance program" means; the payment amounts and other rules stay the same.

State government employeesHealth insurance HB2089In effect since September 12, 2026

Arizona's Medicaid program (AHCCCS) must ask federal officials each year by March 30 for permission to pay for certain services cut or limited since September 2010, including dental care, when given to American Indian or Alaska Native members at participating Indian Health Service or tribal facilities, and it may pay for them once approved.

Health insurance HB2177In effect since September 12, 2026 (and 1 more date)

Arizona law now treats air ambulances (certain federally certificated aircraft) separately from ground and water ambulances, sets staffing for air ambulance transfers between facilities, and extends many existing ambulance rules and legal protections to air ambulances and their medical crews.

People with health insuranceAviation usersHealth insuranceLawsuitsTransportation HB2179In effect since September 12, 2026

Dental insurers, and companies that hold 10% or more of a dental insurer's ownership or voting rights, may not have any ownership interest in a business that offers the public professional services regulated by the state dental board.

InsurersBusiness ownersHealth insurance HB2308In effect since September 12, 2026

The law changes how a group can qualify as a "bona fide association" to offer health plans, lets self-funded multiple employer health plans run through certain statewide chambers of commerce and business leagues, and orders a state study of a different way to provide health coverage to state and school district employees.

Small business ownersBusiness ownersInsurersState government employeesWorkersHealth insuranceEmployment HB2693In effect since September 12, 2026 (and 2 more dates)

This law changes several state commerce funds and programs, including more lottery money for the Arizona Competes fund after fiscal year 2028-2029, a wider insurer assessment, new duties for the Office of Defense Innovation, and higher population limits before local voters must approve certain infrastructure financing.

InsurersVotersLocal governmentsBusiness ownersAviation usersContractorsVotingDronesHealth insurance HB4157Applies retroactively from and after June 29, 2026 (and 4 more dates)

When a qualifying skilled nursing or assisted living facility in Arizona's long-term care system changes owners, the state and its program contractors must, if the new owner asks, keep processing and paying claims under the previous owner's number and subcontracts until the new owner's enrollment and contracting is done.

Business ownersOlder adultsHealth insurance SB1164In effect since September 12, 2026

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.

People with health insuranceInsurersBusiness ownersHealth insuranceFraudCourts SB1494In effect since September 12, 2026

The state health department must license a new kind of facility, called an enhanced residential treatment facility, for people with serious mental illness, and AHCCCS (Arizona's Medicaid program) must seek federal approval for a 3-year pilot program serving up to 60 adults statewide.

People with disabilitiesHealth insuranceHousing SB1630In effect since September 12, 2026 (and 3 more dates)

Mostly how government works 2

Each year by December 1, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) must report to state leaders what percentage of money its nongovernment prepaid capitated contractors spent on direct payments to providers versus administrative costs, combined across all of those contractors.

Health insuranceGovernment ethics SB1399In effect since September 12, 2026

Large school districts that self-insure must still get quotes at least once every 4 years, but now only for health, accident or disability coverage, and the law now spells out who counts as an "authorized service provider" for those quotes.

InsurersLocal governmentsHealth insurance SB1497In effect since September 12, 2026