SALEM, Ore. – Senator Cedric Hayden (R-Fall Creek), vice-chair of the Senate Health Care Committee and a practicing dentist serving low-income patients, stood firmly today against House Bill 3409, urging a ‘No’ vote on the corporate-backed bill and a ‘Yes’ vote on the minority report he championed.
“HB 3409 is another sweetheart deal for industry players—passed on a party-line vote by Senate Democrats—that hands over sensitive drug pricing data to a private company without public bidding, transparency, or direct benefit to patients,” said Senator Hayden.
The bill’s path raised red flags from the start. Originally House Bill 2057, it failed before being repackaged into HB 3409 through a procedural maneuver in the House Rules Committee. Proponents failed to disclose during public hearings that a contract with RxParadigm, a third-party pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), had already been signed. That contract only came to light under questioning in a Senate hearing weeks later.
“What we’re doing here is authorizing a no-bid contract with no public guarantees, all while Oregon families and seniors are skipping care because they can’t afford it,” Hayden added.
Senator Hayden instead advocated for the minority report, which would reset Oregon’s Senior Medical Tax Subtraction—slashed in 2013—by reindexing it to inflation. Under current law, the average tax benefit for qualifying seniors has dropped from $278 to just $101 per year. The minority report proposed:
• Raising the subtraction cap to reflect health care inflation for the last 12 years the cap wasn’t indexed;
• Adjusting income thresholds to match changes in CPI; and
• Permanently indexing both the subtraction and qualifying income limits to future inflation rates so more seniors can be served.
“This was a fair, transparent, patient-centered fix that helps seniors stay in Oregon and afford care—not another backroom deal that benefits a middleman,” said Hayden.
With Oregon’s per-person health spending up nearly 40% since 2015 and family premiums rising over 30%, Hayden warned that unchecked health care costs threaten both patient well-being and state solvency.
“The question is simple,” Hayden concluded. “Do we help Oregonians, or do we keep giving away public trust to private profiteers?”
HB 3409 now moves to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. ###