Virginia Governor Vetoes Bill to Create Drug-Cost Advisory Panel Using Medicare Benchmarks

Virginia's governor, Abigail Spanberger, vetoed a bill that would have created a new advisory panel aimed at lowering prescription-drug costs. The legislation had been closely watched as a potential model for other states seeking to curb rising medicine prices.

The proposed panel would have used Medicare's drug list as a benchmark, automatically targeting the same medicines each year that Medicare selects for price negotiations. It also would have set upper payment limits to cap what insurers could pay for those drugs.

The veto is seen as a setback for state-level drug-affordability initiatives, as Virginia would have been the first to adopt a Medicare-based approach and could have set a precedent for other states.