In the final stretch of Election 2024, the Kaine for Virginia campaign launched “7 Days, 7 Ways Tim Kaine Stands Up For Virginia” to highlight seven ways Sen. Tim Kaine puts Virginia first in the U.S. Senate.
One way is that Kaine works to make healthcare more affordable for Virginians. In 2017, he cast a deciding vote to preserve the Affordable Care Act, protecting the health care coverage of 1.3 million Virginians with pre-existing conditions and nearly 700,000 Virginians who were at risk of losing their health insurance.
Kaine was a deciding vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which caps the out-of-pocket amount that seniors will have to pay for prescription drugs bought at the pharmacy at $2,000 a year, which will save an estimated 390,400 Virginia seniors an average of $441 per year. The legislation also caps the amount that seniors will have to pay for insulin at $35 for a month’s supply, benefiting nearly 36,500 Virginians. The IRA also included a permanent extension of funding for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which provides benefits to miners, miner retirees and their families.
In 2021, Kaine cast a deciding vote to pass the American Rescue Plan, which lowered health insurance premiums for 308,000 Virginians, who saved an average of $848 per year on their health care.
He is leading the fight to lower health care premiums for all Virginians. Kaine’s Medicare-X Choice Act would build on the historic Affordable Care Act by creating a Medicare Exchange public option plan in every county in America for individuals and small businesses – providing an additional, affordable option in all communities.
“From protecting the Affordable Care Act to lowering the cost of insulin and capping the amount seniors will pay for prescriptions drugs, Sen. Kaine is dedicated to lowering healthcare costs for all Virginians,” Michael Beyer, Communications Director for Kaine for Virginia, said. “He knows how much of a lifesaver affordable healthcare is for families, which is why he is fighting to make the $35 insulin cap available to all Virginians and lower health care premiums so that every person in the Commonwealth will have access to affordable health care.”
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Tim Kaine campaign highlights ways he ‘Stands Up for Virginia’