Spanberger rolls out policies to lower costs of prescription drugs, health coverage

The Democratic nominee struck a contrast between her goals to make health care more affordable in Virginia and Congressional Republicans  who are pushing for deep cuts to the social safety net to fund tax breaks for the rich.

MECHANICSVILLE – Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger on Wednesday unveiled a set of policies aimed at lowering the costs of prescription drugs and health coverage. 

Speaking at a pharmacy in Hanover County, Spanberger said she wants to crack down on pharmacy benefit managers who inflate the costs of prescription drugs. According to the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) act as middlemen that can raise the costs of prescription drugs for people and insurers. 

Spanberger said PBMs inflate the costs of prescription drugs to turn a profit by steering Virginians to affiliated pharmacies with overpriced drugs rather than other pharmacies where drugs could be gotten more cheaply. 

“As governor, I will ban this practice to make sure that Virginians can use the pharmacy of their choice,” Spanberger said. 

The former Northern Virginia congresswoman also pledged to use the strength of Virginia’s purchasing power to secure lower costs for prescription drugs and enforce price transparency laws already on the books. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, states can save money by buying prescription drugs in bulk or by joining a purchasing pool with other states to increase their negotiating power with pharmaceutical companies. 

Spanberger further said she would protect Virginians from predatory billing and scam coverage through strict enforcement of Virginia’s surprise billing laws and by directing the state attorney general to crack down on scammers. 

Spanberger declined to commit to backing a prescription drug affordability board, which has been a priority for Democrats in the General Assembly. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has twice vetoed legislation that would have created a board that could set payment limits on certain prescription drugs. Spanberger said her team is studying research on drug affordability boards to identify best practices developed in states like Maryland and Colorado with drug affordability boards 

“As we’re watching the implementation in other states, I want to make sure that whatever we might implement in the future will be of best practices based on the successes or challenges that other states have faced,” Spanberger said. 

Spanberger contrasted her policy priorities with the spending bill Republicans in Congress are pursuing that would kick millions of Americans off their health care to help pay for tax benefits to the rich. 

“At this time Republicans in Congress are instead targeting Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act,” Spanberger said. “And that’s threatening to rip affordable health care coverage from hundreds of thousands of our neighbors. 

Aida Pacheco, a retired state government employee who’s lived in Mechanicsville for over 35 years, appeared alongside Spanberger and spoke about her daughter, who’s enrolled in Virginia’s Medicaid expansion program and gets cancer treatment through her coverage. Virginia has a trigger law that could kick 630,000 people, including Pacheco’s daughter, off their Medicaid expansion health coverage if federal funding for it drops. 

Pacheco emphasized how most Medicaid recipients like her daughter do have jobs, but still cannot afford private insurance. Pacheco’s daughter has worked most of her life before she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year at 43 years of age. Pacheco’s daughter tried to continue working even as she went through chemotherapy, but the side effects proved to be too much. 

“We are so grateful for Medicaid expansion because without coverage, my daughter would not be able to get the care she needs,” Pacheco said. 

Pacheco blasted Republicans in Congress for putting the needs of billionaires and corporations ahead of people like her daughter. 

“They don’t have to make the decisions between food on their table and getting the health care they need,” Pacheco said. “For people like my daughter this would mean losing one of the most important tools to fight her battle against cancer.”

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, did not respond to a request for comment.