{"id":641718,"date":"2026-05-14T01:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T01:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/641718\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T01:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T01:36:20","slug":"in-fairfax-spanberger-signs-bills-aimed-at-lowering-healthcare-costs-for-virginians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/641718\/","title":{"rendered":"In Fairfax, Spanberger signs bills aimed at lowering healthcare costs for Virginians"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t delay necessary medical care.<\/p>\n

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Spanberger signs bills aimed at lowering healthcare costs<\/p>\n

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\u2019t delay necessary medical care.<\/p>\n

The signing ceremony, which took place at Inova\u2019s Schar Cancer Institute, featured many elected officials representing Northern Virginia in the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Spanberger said many of the measures passed through the Commonwealth\u2019s legislative body with bipartisan support, and she touted the new laws as part of the affordability agenda on which she campaigned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Spanberger told reporters after the event.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The change is scheduled to go into effect July 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is making a life-saving difference on so many families \u2014 for hundreds of thousands of Virginians, in fact,\u201d Spanberger said.<\/p>\n

\"law<\/a>Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs several laws aimed at lowering healthcare costs. (WTOP\/Scott Gelman)<\/p>\n

Separately, Spanberger signed a bill that adds doula care, infertility treatment and hearing aids to Virginia\u2019s Essential Health Benefits. The EHB includes the benefits that individual and small group health insurance plans have to provide.<\/p>\n

That measure is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1 because it has to receive approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.<\/p>\n

House and Senate bills also signed by Spanberger aim to stop insurance companies \u201cfrom quietly reducing what they can pay on a claim behind closed doors,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n

Spanberger signed Del. Michelle Maldonado\u2019s plan that restricts insurance companies from using prior authorization as a reason to delay or deny care that doctors have approved and deemed necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of these bills, when your family needs care, you can get it,\u201d Spanberger said. \u201cWhen your doctor writes you a prescription, you should be able to afford it. And when you get sick, the cost of getting better shouldn\u2019t break a family\u2019s bank. But this is not the reality for far too many Virginians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin Figueroa, Virginia\u2019s secretary of health and human resources, said, \u201dWe\u2019re 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\u2019t fully felt yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a series of healthcare bills Wednesday, aimed at lowering the cost of insulin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[51932,12832,277124,97,252,253,30473,40523,277125],"class_list":["post-641718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-abigail-spanberger","tag-affordability","tag-essential-health-benefits","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-insulin","tag-scott-gelman","tag-virginia-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}