U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) welcomed Marguerite Bailey Young to his Washington, D.C. office ahead of the President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Young, a 94-year-old widow and retired school system administrator from Fredericksburg, joined Warner as he highlighted how seniors all across Virginia have begun to benefit from historic measures enacted under President Biden to lower the price of insulin and other prescription drugs.

“As a Senator and former Governor, I’ve met countless seniors over the years who have pleaded for the government to do something about the out-of-control costs of prescription drugs. This includes basic and lifesaving medicines like insulin, which has skyrocketed in price despite having been around for a century. It’s an incredible honor to welcome Mrs. Young to the U.S. Capitol and get to hear how the Inflation Reduction Act has made her health care more accessible and her insulin more affordable,” said Warner

“I’m 94 years young, and I don’t know anything that needs to be affordable more urgently than health care. During my years working in health care, there were many people I knew who had to ask for a fourth of a prescription so that they could get the medicine they needed and still afford to stay in their homes and feed their families,” said Young. “As a diabetic and someone living on a fixed income, and as someone who didn’t make a whole lot of money back in the day as a teacher, I’m delighted to be saving close to two thousand dollars a year on my medicines, especially insulin.”

Young, an Accomack County native who lives independently and on a fixed income, relies on several daily medicines, including two types of insulin. Like many seniors across the country, Mrs. Young has seen the cost of her insulin drop dramatically thanks to a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that caps insulin at $35 per month for Medicare recipients.

Young has been an active advocate for access to health care for underserved persons in her region. She previously served as a board member of Central Virginia Health Services, a federally qualified health center with more than 15 practice sites throughout Central Virginia. She spent more than 30 years championing healthcare access and equity within her own community, first as a Board Trustees on the Mary Washington Healthcare Board, then as a citizen member on the health system’s board-level committees before retiring just last year.

The Inflation Reduction Act is a historic piece of legislation supported by Sen. Warner, passed by Congress, and signed into law in August of 2022. The Inflation Reduction Act will continue lowering the cost of prescription drugs and health care by capping out-of-pocket costs for seniors, allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, and extending the expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years, among a number of other key provisions.