AARP Virginia is fighting for you at the General Assembly

AARP Virginia advocates will fight for a prescription drug affordability board, ask lawmakers to give family caregivers a tax break and work to improve the quality of care for nursing home residents when legislators come to town on Wednesday.

AARP Virginia State Director Jim Dau will participate in a press conference at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 9 in the House Briefing Room in the General Assembly Building. The press conference will be to announce legislation to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, carried by Senators Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) and Bill Stanley (R-Galax) and Delegates Karrie Delaney (D-Fairfax) and Nadarius Clark (D-Suffolk). The legislators will discuss how this legislation will lower the cost of medicine for Virginians and will be joined by Charlottesville resident Mara Shapiro who will share their story about the impact of the soaring costs of prescriptions.

During the session, AARP Virginia will champion legislation addressing the ever-increasing costs of prescription drugs. AARP supports creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board with the authority to set upper payment limits on certain high-cost prescription medications. The bill passed the Senate in 2023 with bipartisan support but was killed in the House.

AARP Virginia State Advocacy Director Jared Calfee said the most common challenge he hears from Virginians across the state is the skyrocketing cost of their prescription drugs, which has outpaced inflation. People can share their stories about the cost of their medications at aarp.org/rxva.

“Medicines only work if patients can afford them,” Calfee said. “We are working hard to put fairness and accountability into the system.”

AARP Virginia will ask legislators for a $1,000 state income tax credit for people caring for family members to help offset the expenses of livability alterations to the person’s home, hiring a home care aide or equipment and technology that aids the family member in living their life.

“It’s time for lawmakers to provide badly-needed relief to hard-working Virginians caring for family members,” Calfee said. “People taking care of their loved ones are the invisible backbone of our long-term care system and they deserve help.”

A recent study by AARP revealed that Virginia’s 980,000 family caregivers provide $14.3 billion in unpaid care to loved ones. Comparatively, Virginia’s total Medicaid spending for fiscal year 2021 was about $16 billion. Family caregivers spend more than $7,200 per year — 26% of their income on average — on caregiving activities.

“Family caregivers are a vital part of our healthcare system and save Virginia taxpayers massive amounts of money by keeping people out of long-term care facilities and in their communities,” Calfee said.

 Another issue AARP will address during the General Assembly will be nursing home reform. Nearly half of Virginia facilities hold just a 1 or 2-star rating from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), meaning they are ‘below average’ or ‘much below average’ in terms of staffing and other quality measures. Forty-four percent of Virginia nursing homes had to put a hold on new admissions in 2023 due to understaffing.

AARP Virginia will ask lawmakers to support policy changes that:

· reform the nursing home licensure process to help weed out bad actors and prevent them from buying or opening nursing facilities in Virginia.

· bolster Virginia’s long-term care workforce so that facilities can recruit and retain the staff necessary to provide high-quality care.

· improve Medicaid reimbursement rates to ensure that low-income Virginians have access to long-term care.

· adequately fund medical facility inspectors to hold nursing homes accountable for meeting care standards.

AARP Virginia is part of a coalition of organizations, Virginia Voices for Nursing Home Residents, who support nursing home reform and will encourage the public to call upon lawmakers to enact the legislation.

Other policies AARP Virginia will fight for with lawmakers include:

· Allow for the local creation of Accessory Dwelling Units to increase affordable housing options for older Virginians.

· Adopt legislation crafted by AARP and the American Land Title Association to ban predatory real estate listing agreements and bring relief to those who may be trapped in one by:

o making existing agreements unenforceable.

o prohibiting their recording in property records and creating penalties if they are recorded.

o providing for their removal from property records and creating a mechanism for recovery of damages.

With 1 million members in Virginia, AARP is the largest organization working on behalf of people age 50+ and their families in the Commonwealth. In recent years, AARP Virginia has successfully fought for Medicaid expansion, protections for older people against financial exploitation, nursing home staffing standards and empowering family caregivers.

To learn more about AARP Virginia, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/aarpvirginia and follow @AARPVa on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aarpva.

 

AARP is the nation’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With nearly 38 million members and offices in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and advocate for what matters most to families with a focus on health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high-quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the nation's largest circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @AARP and @AARPad