My Story
When I started this page on 8/2/2025, I had one purpose: to shine a light on what is happening to behavioral health providers across Arizona. Too many good providers are being harmed by a false narrative that every provider accused of fraud is guilty. Providers can be suspended and financially devastated before receiving meaningful due process. I am one of those providers. I was cleared of the fraud allegation against me, only to later be terminated and excluded. I have filed multiple lawsuits and continue to fight. Many providers do not have the money or strength to fight back. When Medicaid payments are withheld for months and a provider is later suspended, they may be left without the resources necessary to defend themselves, their employees, or the patients they serve. I have made it through so much—not because I am stronger than everyone else, but because I am determined. With God in my heart, I feel called to overcome this because so many others are suffering. When I began speaking publicly, the shame I had carried for two years started to leave me. Today, I fight knowing that I will be criticized and attacked again and again. I will continue to overcome by staying honest, standing in truth, and serving with integrity before the One I serve—God. I have learned to be grateful for 9/22/2023. That day changed my life, but it also gave me the knowledge, experience, and strength to run for Governor. I will not allow tragedy to become the ending of my story. My story will be about how I overcame tragedy, turned pain into purpose, and used what I learned to fight for others. My past is not perfect. I struggled with drugs and alcohol until age 23, and today I have been sober for 18 years. I was a high school dropout before earning my PhD. My life has taught me to keep getting back up, to challenge systems that cause harm, and to speak when others are afraid to speak. I will continue talking about organizations, systems, and groups that I believe are causing harm to Arizona communities—even when doing so is unpopular. I will ask hard questions, demand transparency, and follow the evidence wherever it leads. Love you, Arizona! 🩷🇺🇸
Healthcare Must Be About People, Not Profit
Healthcare in Arizona is struggling—and patients and providers are both feeling the consequences. Patients need timely access to quality care, and the providers serving them need a system that allows them to stay open, get paid appropriately, and focus on care instead of constantly fighting bureaucracy. As Governor, I will work to reform Arizona’s healthcare system from both sides—patient and provider. I will push for stronger accountability and transparency within AHCCCS and state healthcare agencies, protect patients’ access to care, address delayed and unfair provider payment practices, strengthen our behavioral and mental healthcare system, reduce unnecessary administrative barriers, and aggressively target actual fraud, waste, and abuse without destroying legitimate providers in the process. I am tired of watching Arizonans suffer in a healthcare system that too often puts business, bureaucracy, and money ahead of people. We can do better. Healthcare should begin and end with one priority: the people who need care and the people providing it.
Making Healthcare Affordable for Every Arizonan
Healthcare costs continue to place a significant burden on Arizona families, employers, and healthcare providers. As Governor, I will work to ensure that every Arizonan has access to affordable, high-quality healthcare without facing financial hardship.
As both a healthcare provider and business owner, I understand the challenges families face when insurance premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs continue to rise faster than wages. I also understand the pressures placed on employers who want to provide quality healthcare benefits for their employees but struggle with escalating costs.
My administration will pursue innovative solutions that increase affordability and expand access to care. This includes developing employer rebate and incentive programs that help businesses provide healthcare coverage to their workforce, increasing transparency in healthcare pricing, and strengthening oversight to ensure insurance companies are not engaging in unfair pricing practices that drive up costs for consumers.
I will also work to create additional healthcare options for Arizonans by encouraging competition, supporting independent healthcare providers, expanding access to preventive and mental health services, and reducing unnecessary administrative barriers that increase costs without improving patient care.
Healthcare should be affordable, accessible, and focused on patients—not bureaucracy. Arizona can lead the nation in creating a healthcare system that supports families, employers, providers, and taxpayers while delivering better outcomes for everyone.
As Governor, I will fight for practical, fiscally responsible solutions that lower costs, expand choices, and make healthcare more affordable for every Arizona family.
Are Your Utility Bills Actually Going Down?
Governor Hobbs recently highlighted her administration’s claim that Arizonans have saved more than $321 million on utility bills. As I travel across Arizona during my campaign for Governor, I want to hear directly from you. Have you actually seen your electric, water, or gas bills go down? Or are your utility costs still putting a strain on your family budget? For many Arizonans I speak with, utilities remain one of the biggest monthly expenses. I believe government should be judged by the results people experience in their own homes—not just by headlines or press releases. It’s also worth noting that questions have been raised about financial relationships between APS and Governor Hobbs. Public reporting shows: APS contributed $250,000 to Governor Hobbs’ inaugural fund in 2023. Pinnacle West, APS’s parent company, later disclosed a $100,000 contribution toward Governor Hobbs’ legal defense fund, prompting transparency questions. As your Governor, my commitment is simple: fight for affordable utilities, greater transparency, and policies that put Arizona families—not political insiders or special interests—first. Have you felt these claimed savings? Tell me where you live and whether your utility bills have gone up, down, or stayed the same.
Review of State Agency Operations and Public Trust
Teri Ann Hourihan for AZ Governor. As Governor, I will make fixing these failures an immediate priority. I will strengthen oversight, ensure providers are paid fairly and on time, increase accountability throughout the system, and aggressively investigate credible evidence of fraud, waste, and misconduct. My commitment is to protect vulnerable Arizonans, support the professionals who serve them, and restore public trust in the programs designed to help those most in need. Right now my thoughts that AG Kris Mayes and Governor Katie Hobbs are involved criminally in the harm to all of us are just my deep concerns and opinion, when Governor I will immediately investigate them and get them prosecuted if my concerns are true. There is just no other explanation then deep corruption in our government as to why this is happening in Arizona.
Medicaid Funding, Management, and Accountability
Teri Ann Hourihan for AZ Governor. As Governor of Arizona, I will find out exactly what is happening with our Medicaid dollars and hold those responsible accountable. Any leadership team that has failed Arizona’s taxpayers and vulnerable residents will be shown the door. They can take a hike with Katie Hobbs. More than 3.2 million Arizonans depend on Medicaid and related health programs, and they deserve a government that puts people before politics, accountability before excuses, and results before bureaucracy.
Fixing Arizona's Healthcare Payment Crisis
Teri Ann Hourihan for AZ Governor. In Arizona, providers are struggling to get paid for services they have already delivered. Many healthcare, behavioral health, and community providers are facing financial hardship, layoffs, and even bankruptcy because of payment delays and administrative barriers. When providers suffer, clients suffer. Vulnerable children, families, seniors, individuals with disabilities, and those facing mental health challenges depend on these services every day. Disruptions in care can have devastating consequences. This is a serious problem and it is not acceptable. Arizona must ensure that providers are paid accurately and on time so they can continue serving our communities. We need accountability, transparency, and leadership that puts people before bureaucracy. The current situation is creating a nightmare for providers and the people who rely on them. Arizona deserves better, and it is time for change.
Protecting Taxpayers and Honest Healthcare Providers
Teri Ann Hourihan for AZ Governor. Arizona’s Medicaid system has experienced billions of dollars in fraud over many years. The question every Arizonan should be asking is: How does that happen without anyone noticing sooner? Accountability does not stop with those who committed fraud. It also belongs to the leaders, administrators, and government officials—past and present—who failed to detect, stop, and prevent it. When billions of taxpayer dollars are misused for years, that is a failure of oversight. Yes, those who intentionally commit fraud should be investigated and prosecuted. But there is another side of this story that is too often ignored. Good providers and organizations that were caught up in broad enforcement actions, despite doing the right thing, deserve justice, due process, and a path to move forward. I have been saying this for a long time: the public is only hearing part of the story. The fraud matters, but so do the innocent providers, employees, and patients who were impacted. As Governor, I will work to ensure fraud is detected faster, stopped immediately, and prosecuted efficiently. I will also make sure innocent providers are not left trapped in years of uncertainty because government failed to distinguish wrongdoing from compliance. We need accountability, transparency, fairness, and a media conversation that tells the whole story—not just the part that generates headlines. Arizona taxpayers deserve better, and so do the providers who serve our communities every day
PROVIDERS NEED TO SAVED TOO. WITHOUT PROVIDERS PATIENTS ARE NOT SERVED
Due process in Arizona should not be optional. Every healthcare provider deserves a fair and legitimate process before being shut down by the state’s Medicaid program. When a provider is shut down without questions being asked, medical records being properly reviewed, or a thorough investigation being conducted—and that provider is innocent—the consequences can be devastating. Businesses are destroyed. Employees lose their jobs. Patients lose access to care. Entire communities can be harmed. Arizona has a serious Medicaid problem. Yes, fraud exists, and we must stop it. But fighting fraud cannot mean destroying legitimate providers without due process or meaningful investigation. We must be able to do both: aggressively stop real fraud while protecting innocent providers from being unfairly destroyed by the system. We also need to rethink what advocacy truly means. A true advocate does not protect one group while ignoring the innocent people harmed along the way. Advocacy should be rooted in fairness, truth, and a willingness to stand up for all people—not just a select few. I challenge Arizona’s advocates, lawmakers, and state leaders to look at the entire system—not just the people or organizations with the loudest voices or the most influence. As Governor, I will address the failures in Arizona’s Medicaid system. We will fight fraud aggressively, demand accountability, protect patients, and establish a fair process that does not destroy innocent providers without a real investigation. Arizona can fight fraud without abandoning due process. We can protect patients without destroying legitimate healthcare providers. We can—and must—do both.
MEDICAID OF AZ ALLOWS FRAUD
Arizona has multiple Medicaid health plans, yet fraud is still happening every day. The question is: why is fraud allowed to continue when there are systems, health plans, and government agencies responsible for identifying and stopping it? At the same time, legitimate providers are being ruined, employees are losing their jobs, and patients are losing access to treatment. This is not okay. We can fight fraud without destroying innocent providers. We can demand accountability while still protecting due process. And we can build a Medicaid system where patients are not abandoned because of government failures. As Governor, I will address fraud, demand accountability from the agencies and health plans responsible for protecting taxpayer dollars, ensure providers receive due process, and work to restore access to treatment for patients across Arizona. Patients deserve care. Honest providers deserve fairness. Taxpayers deserve accountability. Arizona deserves better.
FALSE NARRATIVES AND FALSE COMPLAINTS HARMS PEOPLE
Unfortunately, in Arizona, we have groups that call themselves “advocates” while choosing who deserves advocacy and who deserves to be attacked. That is not advocacy. Advocacy is not helping some vulnerable people while spreading hate, pushing false narratives, filing complaints against innocent businesses and people, and supporting actions that destroy providers without due process. Yes, Arizona has a serious problem with fraud in our Medicaid system. Fraud must be investigated, prosecuted, and stopped. But fraud is NOT the only problem, and pretending that it is has allowed another crisis to grow. Thousands of providers are being destroyed, suspended, terminated, excluded, or simply not paid for services already rendered to vulnerable Arizonans—including tribal members and communities already struggling to access care. Meanwhile, advocacy groups, members of the media, and legislators—including Senator Carine Werner—continue pushing a one-sided narrative around this so-called “state crackdown,” while ignoring the need for due process and refusing to acknowledge the providers who have been wrongly accused, financially destroyed, or left waiting years for answers. And after all of this, they themselves continue to say the fraud problem is still happening. Maybe it is time to admit that the current approach is not working. You cannot fix Medicaid fraud by destroying legitimate providers alongside bad actors. You cannot protect vulnerable patients by eliminating their access to care. You cannot call yourself an advocate while refusing to hear from the people harmed by the system you are defending. Arizona’s Medicaid crisis is bigger and more complicated than the narrative being sold to the public. Real reform requires stopping actual fraud, protecting patients, paying legitimate providers, demanding accountability from state agencies and health plans, and guaranteeing meaningful due process. I am over watching Arizona accept a false choice between fighting fraud and protecting innocent providers. We can—and must—do both. Arizona deserves the whole truth, not just the version that is politically convenient.