Last updated: 2026-05-23

Prescription Drug Law by State (2026)

A 50-state reference for the prescription-drug-law questions that decide whether and how you can fill a script cheaply: generic substitution mandates, Medicaid Preferred Drug List access, State Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs, dispensing rules for 90-day fills and mail order, Prescription Monitoring Programs, and 340B clinic locators. Each state page carries a last-verified date and primary-source citations.

Reference, not legal or medical advice. Statutes change. Every claim below traces to a citation on the underlying state page. Consult a licensed pharmacist or attorney for any decision with legal or health consequences.

State comparison

Quick scan across the axes covered on every state page. Click a state for the full reference with citations.

State Generic substitution SPAP 90-day fills PMP query
California Permissive No Allowed Required
Texas Mandatory No Allowed Required
New York Mandatory EPIC (Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage) Allowed Required
Florida Mandatory No Allowed Required
Pennsylvania Permissive PACE / PACENET Allowed Required
Alabama Permissive No Allowed Required
Alaska Permissive No Allowed Required
Arizona Permissive No Allowed Required
Arkansas Mandatory No Allowed Required
Colorado Permissive No Allowed Required
Connecticut Mandatory ConnPACE Allowed Required
Delaware Permissive Delaware Prescription Assistance Program (DPAP) Allowed Required
Georgia Permissive No Allowed Required
Hawaii Permissive No Allowed Required
Idaho Permissive No Allowed Required
Illinois Mandatory No Allowed Required
Indiana Mandatory HoosierRx Allowed Required
Iowa Mandatory No Allowed Required
Kansas Permissive No Allowed Voluntary
Kentucky Permissive No Allowed Required
Louisiana Permissive No Allowed Required
Maine Mandatory Maine Low Cost Drugs for the Elderly or Disabled (DEL) Allowed Required
Maryland Mandatory Maryland Senior Prescription Drug Assistance Program (SPDAP) Allowed Required
Massachusetts Permissive Prescription Advantage Allowed Required
Michigan Permissive No Allowed Required
Minnesota Permissive No Allowed Required
Mississippi Permissive No Allowed Required
Missouri Permissive Missouri Rx Plan (MORx) Allowed Voluntary
Montana Permissive No Allowed Required
Nebraska Permissive No Allowed Voluntary
Nevada Permissive No Allowed Required
New Hampshire Mandatory No Allowed Required
New Jersey Mandatory PAAD / Senior Gold Allowed Required
New Mexico Permissive No Allowed Required
North Carolina Mandatory No Allowed Required
North Dakota Permissive No Allowed Required
Ohio Permissive No Allowed Required
Oklahoma Permissive No Allowed Required
Oregon Permissive No Allowed Voluntary
Rhode Island Permissive Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Elderly (RIPAE) Allowed Required
South Carolina Permissive No Allowed Required
South Dakota Permissive No Allowed Voluntary
Tennessee Permissive No Allowed Required
Utah Permissive No Allowed Required
Vermont Permissive VPharm Allowed Required
Virginia Mandatory No Allowed Required
Washington Permissive No Allowed Voluntary
West Virginia Mandatory No Allowed Required
Wisconsin Permissive SeniorCare Allowed Required
Wyoming Permissive No Allowed Required

All 50 states

CA California Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP TX Texas Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP NY New York Mandatory substitution · EPIC (Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage) FL Florida Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP PA Pennsylvania Permissive substitution · PACE / PACENET AL Alabama Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP AK Alaska Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP AZ Arizona Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP AR Arkansas Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP CO Colorado Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP CT Connecticut Mandatory substitution · ConnPACE DE Delaware Permissive substitution · Delaware Prescription Assistance Program (DPAP) GA Georgia Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP HI Hawaii Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP ID Idaho Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP IL Illinois Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP IN Indiana Mandatory substitution · HoosierRx IA Iowa Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP KS Kansas Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP KY Kentucky Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP LA Louisiana Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP ME Maine Mandatory substitution · Maine Low Cost Drugs for the Elderly or Disabled (DEL) MD Maryland Mandatory substitution · Maryland Senior Prescription Drug Assistance Program (SPDAP) MA Massachusetts Permissive substitution · Prescription Advantage MI Michigan Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP MN Minnesota Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP MS Mississippi Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP MO Missouri Permissive substitution · Missouri Rx Plan (MORx) MT Montana Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP NE Nebraska Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP NV Nevada Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP NH New Hampshire Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP NJ New Jersey Mandatory substitution · PAAD / Senior Gold NM New Mexico Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP NC North Carolina Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP ND North Dakota Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP OH Ohio Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP OK Oklahoma Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP OR Oregon Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP RI Rhode Island Permissive substitution · Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Elderly (RIPAE) SC South Carolina Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP SD South Dakota Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP TN Tennessee Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP UT Utah Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP VT Vermont Permissive substitution · VPharm VA Virginia Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP WA Washington Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP WV West Virginia Mandatory substitution · No broad SPAP WI Wisconsin Permissive substitution · SeniorCare WY Wyoming Permissive substitution · No broad SPAP

Federal-side patient assistance

State law is only half of the cheapest-legal-fill question. For federal-side patient assistance programs (manufacturer PAPs, foundation copay assistance, GoodRx-style discount cards), see our sister site OmniRx's assistance directory →

About this reference

Each state page covers six axes: generic substitution law (mandatory vs permissive, DAW handling), Medicaid Preferred Drug List access and prior authorization, State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program eligibility (where one exists), dispensing rules covering 90-day fills and mail-order eligibility, the state's Prescription Monitoring Program and mandatory-query rules, and 340B drug pricing program clinic locator. Where a state has no statewide law on a given axis we say so explicitly and link to the federal floor. Primary sources include the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), state Boards of Pharmacy, state Medicaid agencies, CMS, HRSA Office of Pharmacy Affairs, and the Medicare.gov SPAP directory.

Maintained by Vincent Couey, RxGrab editor. Annual reverification is on the operator queue; each page's "Verified" badge shows the date of last primary-source review.