Comments Document

Dear Chair Maldonado and Members of the House Labor and Commerce Subcommittee #1, On behalf of over 3 million Virginians living with chronic conditions, we are writing to thank you for considering HB1041, an essential bill to lower prescription costs for patients by requiring that Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) share negotiated rebates with patients at the pharmacy counter. Addressing the many barriers to care that PBMs create and how they impact our most vulnerable neighbors is a noble and necessary effort, and we respectfully ask for your support on HB1041. Across the board, pharmaceutical rebates for branded drugs average 48%, meaning vulnerable citizens are paying nearly twice the price for their lifesaving and life-sustaining medications than their insurance company pays for the same drug. This, despite the fact that these consumers have paid a premium for access to the insurance plan. The rebates are being kept by the PBMs, who negotiate drug prices and take a cut of each transaction, and insurers themselves who keep the lion’s share. Insurers will claim that they are retaining the rebates to keep premiums lower for everyone, but an actuarial study estimates that the increase in premiums would be less than 1% overall. Our most vulnerable populations living with chronic conditions are forced to overpay for their medications, oftentimes leading to rationing resulting in poor health outcomes or more tragic consequences, costing everyone more in both dollars and human suffering. We have dedicated our missions to understanding and fighting for the needs of patients, and we hope that our collective voice and plea for assistance will help to drive a favorable decision on HB1041. Please vote “yes” on this essential piece of legislation and prioritize patients over profits, thereby improving the lives of Virginians.

Comments Document

On behalf of the Alliance for Transparent and Affordable Prescription (ATAP) please find the attached letter in support of HB 1041. Thank you!

The people in the coalfields are already suffering from electric power bills of $1,100, $900, and $679 equal to what they might spend on rent here. We don't need shock and awe electric bills this could incur for captured ratepayers. This bill is a shocking and wretched bill. We will tell the people hereabouts about this bill and who sponsored it.. Nuclear energy is far more expensive than from real renewals which are far less risky financially, environmentally, and health wise. When they cluster the SMnRs...6 or so together it is not small... and they are not informing you they are thinking in terms of clusters. There are many community meetings on the projects Youngkin has for the coalfields...the SMnRs, the blue hydrogen and carbon capture and storage. Projects that will devour the funds we need on proven, real renewable energy such as solar and wind. Nuclear subsidies send utilities and their customers down a costly, 10-year rabbit hole, away from cheaper, market-driven, solar, wind, and battery storage - all available now. Competition with cheaper green power alternatives will likely result in project cancellation. “If SMRs are not ready to deploy in the next ten years, what are the implications?” says former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Allison McFarlane. “…If, as a recent study showed, that SMRs will be significantly more expensive than solar photovoltaic (PV) and on-shore wind, and even geothermal, what will the marketplace look like in 20 or 30 years, when renewables will presumably be even cheaper?” Utilities win either way by scooping up front-end federal and state subsidies, then forcing ratepayers, as they have in the past (like the $600 million “recovered” from Virginians for the shelved North Anna #3), to take the risks and pay even if a nuclear SMR plant is never completed. While an SMR is defined by the U.S. Department of Energy as having a capacity of tens to hundreds of megaWatts. At the 500 mW limit this bill sets, a “small” modular nuclear reactor would be more than half as big as the largest nuclear reactors currently operating in Virginia. In a number of ways, this is no small thing. Please spare Virginians this burden. God help us. Please Vote ”NO” on HB-1491.