Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a series of healthcare bills Wednesday, aimed at lowering the cost of insulin and promising that insurance company rules won’t delay necessary medical care.
The signing ceremony, which took place at Inova’s Schar Cancer Institute, featured many elected officials representing Northern Virginia in the General Assembly.
Spanberger said many of the measures passed through the Commonwealth’s legislative body with bipartisan support, and she touted the new laws as part of the affordability agenda on which she campaigned.
“We just had quite a few bills specific to the needs of Virginians, making sure that we are increasing access and ensuring that patients can get the care that, importantly, their doctors intend and want to deliver. And that parents and families are supported with policies that we have here in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Spanberger told reporters after the event.
One measure, spearheaded by Del. Karrie Delaney, decreases the out-of-pocket cost for a 30-day supply of insulin from $50 to $35. It also includes a cap of $35 for a 30-day supply of equipment and supplies.
The change is scheduled to go into effect July 1.
“This is making a life-saving difference on so many families — for hundreds of thousands of Virginians, in fact,” Spanberger said.
Separately, Spanberger signed a bill that adds doula care, infertility treatment and hearing aids to Virginia’s Essential Health Benefits. The EHB includes the benefits that individual and small group health insurance plans have to provide.
That measure is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1 because it has to receive approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
House and Senate bills also signed by Spanberger aim to stop insurance companies “from quietly reducing what they can pay on a claim behind closed doors,” the governor said.
Spanberger signed Del. Michelle Maldonado’s plan that restricts insurance companies from using prior authorization as a reason to delay or deny care that doctors have approved and deemed necessary.
“Because of these bills, when your family needs care, you can get it,” Spanberger said. “When your doctor writes you a prescription, you should be able to afford it. And when you get sick, the cost of getting better shouldn’t break a family’s bank. But this is not the reality for far too many Virginians.”
Martin Figueroa, Virginia’s secretary of health and human resources, said, ”We’re living through a moment when the federal government is making decisions about healthcare that will reach into the lives of ordinary Virginians in ways most people haven’t fully felt yet.”
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