Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, after officially announcing his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, said he favors a "public option" on health care if not necessarily Medicare for all programs, while he does back a wealth tax and working to eliminate or reduce student loan debt.
"The anger and anxiety that I hear about and read about and I see and I witness and listen to in all kind of corners of the country today is familiar to me for the same reasons having grown up on the south side of Chicago, the sense that the economy just kind of gets up and kicks you to the curb," Patrick, who until Thursday had been a paid contributor for CBS News, told "CBS This Morning."
When it comes to Medicare for all insurance, Patrick, who said he's entering the race because it's time for a candidate with "big ideas," noted he does not agree in the "terms we've been talking about," but he does support a public option.
"If Medicare is that public option, I think it's a great idea," said Patrick.
He said "of course," he backs eliminating or reducing student debt, and he thinks there are "other strategies than we've heard about to do just that."
And on a wealth tax, Patrick said he thinks taxes should go up for the nation's most prosperous citizens, as it "seems to me we've had a system where we have crowded and hoarded all of the benefits of our prosperity in a very, very few."
Patrick is a close friend of former President Barack Obama, and said he spoke with him Wednesday, but would not comment about what was said.
"We both agree he has to remain neutral, and wait and see who the nominee is," said Patrick, who most recently a marketing director at Bain Capital and served as governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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