I am in full support of HB 1245 - a bill that ensures healthcare access for marginalized and Queer communities in Virginia stay protected. It should be goal of all governments to protect their people, and this bill diverts funding to do just that. Denying this bill is saying that the health of Virginians is not a priority for the House or GA as a whole. Especially with attacks and cuts at the federal level, state-level support and funding is needed now more than ever. I would not be alive today if community-based resources did not offer me the counseling and care I needed in high school! 1,000s of Virginians will die if their essential healthcare is cut by federal attacks while Virginia does nothing.

Virginia Student Power Network strongly supports HB1245. Urgent action is needed to stabilize existing providers, keeping clinics open and preventing patients from losing care mid-treatment. Virginia’s care networks dismantled by federal pressure must be rebuilt. Grants would expand access by supporting new clinics (brick-and-mortar, mobile, or innovative models), training and credentialing new clinicians, and supporting culturally competent, evidence-based care statewide. Virginia's youth, particularly gender expansive youth, must have pathways to care. This bill is a common sense measure to fill the gap left by the removal of federal funding for these critical services.

I don't have much faith in electoral politics, and I've never submitted a written comment before, but here goes. I've lived in Virginia all my life and I don't intend for that to change. However, as a trans woman, my survival is dependent on having access to gender affirming care. In 2020, After 25 years of suicidal ideation and severe depression, it became clear to me (and the mental health professionals in my life) that either I accept myself as the one thing I was always taught was the worst thing you could be, transgender, and pursue gender affirming care, or I wouldn't make it to my next birthday. When I say that gender affirming care saved my life, it's not hyperbole. Weeks before I started HRT I found myself in the middle of the road in front of my house, looking at an oncoming tractor trailer, thinking "what if I just didn't move?" If my dog hadn't started barking from my yard and snapped me out of it, I don't know if I'd be writing this today. I'm not going to throw numbers at you from studies you'll likely never read, because I'm sure you've heard them all by now. What I will leave you with is a phrase that has become very common within trans circles in the face of legislative and medical discrimination: "death before detransition." For so many of us, its not even a choice anymore. By allocating money for medical care for populations protected by the Virginia Human Rights Act, HB1245 will save lives. There's no question about that. If you think the lives of Virginians "protected" under the VHRA are worth saving, I urge you to support this bill. If not, I guess that's between you and God.

Please, protect health care for the most vulnerable. Let's lead here. -Rev. Sara Dorrien-Christians

Greetings, My name is Chlo'e Edwards, and I am the Policy Director at New Virginia Majority. We support HB 1245, which establishes a Virginia Health Care Stabilization and Expansion Fund to protect access to care for some of the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable residents. Virginia is facing an urgent health care crisis driven by federal actions that threaten to strip care from transgender people, immigrants, people with disabilities, veterans, and other communities already facing systemic barriers. Recent federal efforts have sought to cut off funding to providers delivering lifesaving, evidence-based care, forcing clinics and hospitals to choose between abandoning patients or risking the loss of critical federal dollars. These actions destabilize community health providers and put Virginians at risk of losing care mid-treatment. HB 1245 offers a timely and responsible solution. By appropriating $4.5 million to the Virginia Health Care Fund and leveraging public-private partnerships, this bill ensures that nonprofit and community-based providers serving populations protected under the Virginia Human Rights Act can remain open, rebuild care networks dismantled by federal pressure, and responsibly expand access statewide. The flexible grant structure recognizes the realities of both low-overhead community clinics and larger providers, ensuring resources reach patients efficiently and equitably. At New Virginia Majority, we believe health care is a cornerstone of a thriving democracy and a just economy. HB 1245 affirms Virginia’s commitment to protecting human dignity, safeguarding public health, and ensuring that no community is left behind due to political attacks beyond our control. We respectfully urge the committee to support HB 1245.

As the Federal government has cut off funding to critical medical services in Virginia, we've struggled to find providers delivering health care. Simply the threat of Federal intervention has closed clinics and led hospital to stop providing certain kinds of care. The few remaining providers struggle to deliver the services and medical care me and my neighbors need. Medical care decisions must be made between doctors and patients. The Federal government selectively canceling funding (and thus care) based on political ideology is harmful and wrong. These cuts are causing daily harm to Virginians and we must act to restore this critical, lifesaving care. Further, cutting regular care simply forces patients into more expensive emergency care, driving costs up for all Virginians, regardless of their medical care needs. I plead with you to deliver solutions to keep essential medical care in our communities. Please support HB1245 to provide a vital backfill to decreased Federal funding and allow smaller community-based providers deliver the care that larger institutions, for whatever reason, will not or cannot. Virginians are counting on you to bolster local services that deliver essential care to local communities every day.