Since its implementation in 2019, the Corporate Activity Tax has squeezed independent health care providers, and Oregon patients have paid the price. Senate Bill 125 is the solution Oregon’s health care providers and patients urgently need.

While other businesses subject to the CAT have increased prices to cover their tax burden, independent medical practices can’t — and won’t — pass along higher costs to patients for needed medical care.  Since the buck stops with us, we’re forced to absorb the cost of this tax.

The CAT also inherently limits our ability to reinvest in patient care for our community. The dollars we spend on CAT could otherwise be put toward hiring needed support staff and clinicians, investing in new advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies, or expanding valuable but unreimbursed patient support services, such as social work.

The CAT is having negative and unintended consequences for Oregon’s independent medical practices and could force us to make the difficult decision to accept fewer patients on public insurance plans, which often reimburse us at or below the actual cost of care in many cases. It is driving rapid consolidation of independent practices with larger health systems, which are less convenient for patients and charge higher prices for care.

Senate Bill 125 offers a common-sense solution. It would exempt medical providers who care for publicly insured patients — nearly one in three Oregonians — from the CAT. I urge state lawmakers to support this bill, reverse the unintended consequences of the CAT, and protect access to high-quality, community-based care.

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John Schuler is a Tigard resident and a radiation oncologist at Compass Oncology in Tigard.