RICHMOND — Most voters in Virginia support legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs and expand health care access, according to a new survey.
The survey by AARP Virginia found nearly 85% of voters in the Commonwealth overwhelmingly approve creating a prescription drug affordability board. A similar percentage of voters support requiring employers to provide paid family and medical leave. Early voting is currently underway across the Commonwealth, as the governor’s mansion, House of Delegates and many other statewide offices are up for grabs.
Jared Calfee, state advocacy director for AARP Virginia, said the drug affordability policy has broad support from people across political leanings.
“It cuts across party lines,” Calfee observed. “It was 92% of people who self-identify as liberal and 76% of people who self-identify as conservative and 86% of people who self-identify as moderate. We’re talking about broad support across the ideological spectrum for this policy.”
Earlier this year, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed legislation to establish an advisory board for prescription drugs. Youngkin suggested the board would hinder medical innovation for people with rare and life-threatening diseases.
The board would have the power to create an upper payment limit for a prescription drug or would be the maximum amount someone in Virginia could pay for the drug. Calfee argued such a watchdog would save people money even beyond the purchase of their prescriptions.
“It would save people money who are paying out of pocket directly for the drugs,” Calfee noted. “It would also save people money in terms of health care premiums and things like that, by reducing costs throughout the supply chain.”
According to AARP research, half of Virginians who take a prescription drug pay more than $50 a month for the medication.
