Families USA Urges Virginia General Assembly to Finish the Fight to Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Families

04.14.2026 / Statement

With Legislative Action, Virginia Could Still Join Maryland in Creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board - Which Yesterday Put in Place its First Cap on Drug Costs

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger returned a bill intended to reduce prescription drug costs to the General Assembly with suggested amendments, health care consumer and patient groups urged the legislature to pass the bill as-is. The Governor proposed amendments that would create unnecessary delays and potential industry loopholes in setting up a Prescription Drug Affordability Advisory Panel.

Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, the national nonpartisan health consumer advocacy organization, issued the following statement urging the legislature to move forward with legislation without undercutting the bill's strongest drug pricing enforcement tools:

"Virginia's families need relief from high prescription drug costs now, yet the Governor's proposed amendments undercut the authority and promise of this bill to provide those savings. After garnering strong bipartisan support in the legislature, the Governor missed a major opportunity to immediately enact reforms that would help rein in skyrocketing drug costs.

The legislature can still act to make Virginia the first state in the nation to systematically extend Medicare's negotiated drug prices to people in private health plans and in Medicaid. We strongly urge the General Assembly to reject the bill changes that delay or weaken the implementation of a new Prescription Drug Affordability Advisory Panel, including the crucial authority to set upper payment limits on what Virginians would have to pay for their medications.

The Governor's decision contrasts with actions just yesterday that Virginia's neighbor, Maryland, took that show the positive impact of piggybacking on Medicare's new power to negotiate for cheaper medications. On Monday, Maryland's Prescription Drug Affordability Board announced it will be applying an upper payment limit for Jardiance, which is expected to save state and local governments $320,000 every year. Maryland's step will save thousands of dollars for patients at the pharmacy counter. Without new action from the General Assembly in their state, their Virginia neighbors will continue to pay top dollar.

The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program has already proved that direct negotiation works. Prices on the first 25 negotiated drugs are 38% to 85% lower than list prices. States like Colorado, Maryland, and Minnesota have already started aligning their own upper payment limits to those prices. If fully implemented without amendments, Virginia's legislation would go further and move faster than any of them - automatically applying Medicare prices without requiring a drug-by-drug affordability review.

We will keep fighting alongside champions in Virginia to urge the General Assembly to put patients over profits and provide relief regarding the price of prescription drugs. States have a crucial role to play to take on drug companies, and families across the country need the help now."