As the Senate’s leading voice for health care as Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Ron Wyden has a long history of working to find commonsense, bipartisan solutions to the major issues effecting working Americans. He has sought common ground for innovative policy approaches to some of the nation’s most entrenched issues, from comprehensive tax reform to improving Medicare and ensuring that every American has access to quality, affordable health care.
 
Health care has been the hallmark of Wyden’s career and he continues his long-time work in Congress to forge solutions that improve care while lowering costs. He has championed proposals to improve care for people in Medicare with chronic diseases and written legislation included in the Affordable Care Act to empower innovative states to design an individual market that works best for them while still providing quality, affordable health coverage. Wyden is also committed to tackling the challenge of rising prescription drug costs.

Wyden was first elected to Congress in 1980 to represent Oregon’s 3rd District.  In 1996, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in a special election. Prior to his service in Congress, Wyden co-founded the Oregon chapter of the Gray Panthers, an advocacy group for the elderly.  He also served as the director of Oregon Legal Services for the Elderly from 1977 to 1979.