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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Gov. Abigail Spanberger promoted new state laws capping insulin costs and regulating prescription drug middlemen during a visit to a Neighborhood Health clinic on Richmond Highway Thursday, and later stopped for frozen custard in Old Town.
Spanberger highlighted legislation she signed capping monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 and restricting pharmacy benefit managers, the intermediaries her office blames for driving up drug prices. She said the cost of healthcare is a leading concern for families across the state.
She also pointed to state spending meant to blunt federal healthcare cuts under H.R. 1, the budget reconciliation law President Trump signed in 2025. Virginia's biennial budget includes roughly $1 billion in related investments, according to the governor's office, among them $150 million for premium assistance on the health insurance marketplace and $350 million for a Medicaid Reserve Fund to prepare for potential federal Medicaid cuts.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell and Del. Paul Krizek, who represent the Richmond Highway corridor in Fairfax County, joined the governor at the clinic, along with Neighborhood Health CEO Dr. Basim Khan and other local leaders.
Surovell said the health center has served the Route 1 corridor for a decade and called it a front line for uninsured patients facing federal healthcare cuts. Krizek said healthcare should be affordable rather than a privilege for those who can pay.
Khan thanked the governor for the visit and said he was proud of staff who care for patients regardless of insurance status or background. Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marvin B. Figueroa said state agencies are working to keep medications such as insulin affordable.
Neighborhood Health is a federally qualified health center that provides primary medical, dental and behavioral care regardless of a patient's ability to pay. The nonprofit is headquartered in Alexandria and operates 15 clinics across the city, Arlington County and Fairfax County, four of them within Alexandria city limits. The governor's office said it serves more than 42,000 Virginians.
The Richmond Highway clinic the governor visited has an Alexandria mailing address but is located in Fairfax County, in the county's Mount Vernon District — as are thousands of addresses along the corridor that read "Alexandria, Va."
The Old Town stop
Spanberger's stop inside the city came at Goodies Frozen Custard & Treats at 200 Commerce St., which she documented in photos and video posted to her social media accounts.
Senator Elizabeth Bennett-Parker was among those who joined her there, according to the governor's posts.
Spanberger held a second Northern Virginia event Thursday, appearing in Arlington to mark the opening of Wholey Legacy Homes, a 234-unit apartment building, and to highlight roughly $100 million in state housing investments.
