Virginia small businesses support the creation of a Prescription Drug Affordability Board

In Virginia, there are more than 800,000 small businesses like mine that employ nearly half of the state’s total workforce. As small employers, we are key drivers of Virginia’s economic success. 

One crucial component that’s hurting our bottom lines is access to affordable healthcare and prescription drugs. Not only does it impact our business’ viability, but it also impacts our ability to hire a ready workforce. When healthcare and prescription drug costs continue to rise, employers must either absorb those or pass them on to their employees. And with drug prices continuing to rise, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to purchase life saving medications for myself, my employees and their families. In fact, between 2015 and 2019, the average increase in the annual cost of prescription drugs rose by 26.3% for Virginians.

What’s more, Small Business Majority’s own scientific opinion poll of small business owners has found that the most popular healthcare policy proposal among entrepreneurs is to bring down the price of prescription drugs. Small business owners not only want this policy enacted, but they need this policy in order to compete with larger corporations that can offer more robust and comprehensive health benefits. In fact, 4 in 10 (41%) small businesses cite healthcare costs as a key factor that could harm their business. 

That’s why it’s important for Virginia legislators to establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB), which would give third party, nonpartisan medical experts the power to review and set cost limits on certain drugs. A PDAB would help address the cost of prescription drugs that businesses–and our employees–struggle to afford.

We urge you to support measures in the 2025 General Assembly that would enact a PDAB for the Commonwealth.