Spanberger: “Making Our Commonwealth More Affordable for Families Is a Central Focus of My Campaign — Not Because Some Pollsters or Pundits Have Told Me It Should Be, but Because I Know That Virginians Are Facing Real Financial Challenges”

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger yesterday outlined her vision for lowering healthcare and prescription drug costs for Virginia’s families and seniors as the next Governor of the Commonwealth.

In Hanover County, Spanberger made clear how her administration will save Virginians money by cracking down on the pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) responsible for inflating the cost of Virginians’ prescription drugs, allowing more Virginians to use the pharmacy of their choice, improving hospital price transparency, and stopping predatory billing practices that harm Virginians.

Read more below about what people across the Commonwealth are saying about Spanberger’s plan to make Virginia more affordable:

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8News [Richmond]: Abigail Spanberger shares priorities to lower healthcare, prescription drug costs at Hanover drug store

“Across our Commonwealth, I’m hearing from Virginians whose healthcare and prescription drug costs are one more thing that keeps them up at night,” said Spanberger during the event. “Making our Commonwealth more affordable for families is a central focus of my campaign — not because some pollsters or pundits have told me it should be, but because I know that Virginians are facing real financial challenges.”

“There are concrete steps we can take right now to bring down drug prices and save Virginians money at the hospital and the pharmacy counter,” she continued. “And my administration will be focused on getting it done come January.”

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Spanberger: time to crack down on insurer practices that keep drug costs up

Spanberger said health care is the reason she jumped into politics. She said she ran against then-Rep, Dave Brat, R-7th, in 2018, angered by his vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Now, she said: “The number one priority that Virginians share with me is the need to make everyday life more affordable. And it’s in these conversations that I routinely hear about the high cost of health care and prescription refills, stories of prescriptions left at the counter when they ring it up, and a family that’s making a choice between filling a prescription or other costs at home.”

CBS19 [Charlottesville]: Spanberger visits family-owned pharmacy to speak on rising drug costs

“All Virginians can count on me to defend their access to the coverage and prescription drugs their doctors prescribe,” Spanberger said. 

With nearly 2 million Virginians on Medicaid, the former 7th District representative is making affordable healthcare a priority in her campaign. She says her time on Capitol Hill will be a valuable experience if she is elected to the governor’s mansion.  

“I voted to lower health care costs, I fought to bring down prescription drug costs, and I stood up to big pharmaceutical companies who keep drug costs high,” Spanberger said. 

Virginia Mercury: More access, less cost: Spanberger lays out health care plans if she wins Virginia governorship

Standing in Mechanicsville Drug Store, a family-owned business that’s nearly 70 years old, Spanberger drove home her legislative priorities to lower prescription drug costs and close rural health care gaps in the state. 

“It’s essential that we be able to strengthen access to health care, improve affordability, and recognize that for so many Virginians, they’re one medical event away from really substantial ruin,” Spanberger said. “But for so many, (health care cost) is just one more worry that keeps them up at night.”

Speaking near the counter where prescriptions are filled in the back of the store, Spanberger said threats to health care coverage spurred her to run for Congress in 2018. During President Donald Trump’s first term in 2017,  members of Congress tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That federal legislation made it possible for states like Virginia to expand their Medicaid program to encompass more people who fall through health coverage gaps. 

With a similar sense of medical coverage uncertainty now pervading the nation’s capital, Spanberger said she wants to protect access to care here at home.

“As we see challenges coming out of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, as governor, I will focus on what can be done here in Virginia,” Spanberger said.

WAVY [Norfolk]: Spanberger unveils health care plan

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger says stories from her fellow Virginians on the unreasonable cost of healthcare have prompted her to take action. 

“Stories of prescriptions left at the counter when they ring it up. And a family that’s making a choice between filling a prescription or other costs at home.”

Spanberger unveiling her plans to bring down health care costs for consumers on Wednesday. She says that starts with regulating pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. 

“PBMs, the middlemen of the pharma industry, steer Virginians toward overpriced drugs at their own pharmacies. And as Governor, I will ban this practice to make sure Virginians can use the pharmacy of their choice.”

Radio IQ/WVTF: Spanberger faces opposition, open minds while pitching healthcare cost plans

Near the Hanover County line sits the locally owned Mechanicsville Drug Store. It’s the kind of place that still has a breakfast counter alongside greeting cards, a pharmacy and other odds-and-ends.

And Wednesday morning, in between its narrow aisles, it hosted Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger.

The former congresswoman was there to talk about her plans to address healthcare costs. But she touched on why she first ran for Congress back in 2017, specifically when then-Congressman Dave Brat, who she later unseated, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“So many Virginians would have been impacted had that repeal gone through. It got me and many, many people motivated to run for office,” she told the press. “And so now, unfortunately we’re seeing much of the same.”

BACKGROUND

Spanberger has a proven record of lowering costs for Virginia families and seniors. During her three terms in Congress, Spanberger helped lead the charge to give Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices and save taxpayers billions of dollars in the process.

Spanberger also voted to cap insulin copays at $35 per month for seniors on Medicare and cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Virginia seniors. Additionally, President Trump signed into law Spanberger’s effort to make it harder for pharmaceutical industry middlemen — PBMs — to rip off consumers.

Spanberger announced her campaign to serve as the 75th Governor of Virginia in November 2023.

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