AARP Virginia pushes for lower drug costs, paid leave and crypto fraud protections at General Assembly

AARP announced that volunteer advocates will urge lawmakers to act on the organization’s legislative agenda when the General Assembly convenes on Jan. 14.

AARP Virginia’s 2026 legislative agenda starts with lowering prescription drug costs. The organization supports a bill to create a Prescription Drug Affordability with the authority to set upper payment limits on certain high-cost medications. The measure would complement recent federal changes allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prces and extend savings to Virginians not enrolled in Medicare.

“Too many people can’t afford lifesaving medications because the confusing prescription drug pipeline prioritizes profit over patients,” said Jim Dau, AARP Virginia State Director. “We are working hard to put fairness and accountability into the system because medication only works if people can afford it.” He added that AARP also supports greater transparency in the drug supply chain and other cost-reduction strategies, such as bulk purchasing and regulating pharmacy benefit managers.

AARP will also advocate for paid family and medical leave. More than 1.5 million Virginians serve as caregivers—nearly a quarter of the adult population—and 57% of them work.

Other measures in AARP Virginia’s 2026 legislative agenda include:

• Establishing Home and Community-Based Services Presumptive Eligibility for Medicaid to streamline access to home care.
• Ensuring that nursing homes provide quality care to residents by making sure that they are adequately staffed and facilities that fail their residents are held accountable.
• Codifying the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act, which would make incremental but necessary improvements to Virginia’s outdated advanced care planning laws.
• Updating the Virginia Human Rights Act to equalize age discrimination protections for older workers with other protected classes.
• Helping people in need put food on the table by increasing the minimum monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit from $23 to $50.
• Making it easier for more Virginians to save for retirement by lowering Virginia’s RetirePath program’s employee threshold from 25 to five.
• Preventing evictions by extending the pay-or-quit period for renters from five to 14 days.
• Giving localities the ability to negotiate affordable units for new assisted living developments.
• Ensuring that the affordable housing supply meets demand.