05/22/2026
A victory for patient access in Virginia. Thank you, Governor Spanberger.
When you’ve faced cancer, you learn quickly what truly matters: timely access to the right treatment, in the setting your clinical team recommends. Affordability cannot come at the cost of that access.
Today, we are deeply grateful to Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger for vetoing HB483 and SB271, the Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) / MFN bill. She listened to patients, survivors, and frontline providers—and chose to reject a dangerous experiment that would have put Virginians' lives at risk.
Earlier this year, our Founder & CEO, Maimah Karmo, a breast cancer survivor, warned in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that this board would not lower costs for patients, could force "medical switching," and would drain state resources without putting a single dollar back into a patient’s pocket.
When the bill later shifted to incorporate MFN (Most Favored Nation) policies, the risks only grew. As Maimah wrote in a follow-up thought piece, giving a board the power to cap payments without strong safeguards creates devastating new barriers:
🔹Disrupted care – When reimbursement falls short of drug acquisition costs, community cancer clinics may stop offering life-saving treatments. Patients stable on therapy could be forced to switch for non-medical reasons.
🔹Delays and uncertainty – Insurers often respond to price caps with stricter prior authorizations, step therapy, and longer drives to find a provider. No patient fighting cancer should face that.
🔹No proven patient savings – Five out of six payers don’t believe PDABs will lower premiums or out-of-pocket costs. This is bureaucracy over care.
Governor Spanberger’s amendments sought to slow the riskiest elements. When the legislature declined to take them up, she made the right choice for Virginia patients.
We cannot gamble with lives in the name of affordability. There are better paths: lowering out-of-pocket costs directly, reforming PBM practices, and protecting safety-net programs.
Thank you again, Governor Spanberger, for vetoing this bill and putting patients first.
Let this be a message to other states considering PDABs: Patient access is not negotiable.
Read the full op-ed here:https://heal.tigerlilyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RTD-Virginias-affordability-board-could-make-treatment-inaccessible-01.31.26-1.pdf
