Mass Care

Single payer on the ballot in Massachusetts

Sentiment tested on single-payer health care

Is health care a human right that should be provided through a Medicare-type program for people of all ages?

Many local voters will have the opportunity to weigh in Tuesday on a non-binding referendum that will be on the ballot in a number of Massachusetts communities, including nearly all towns on the Cape and Martha's Vineyard.

Known as Question 4 in most towns — or questions 5 and 6 in some Vineyard towns and Orleans — the ballot item is backed by the groups Mass Care and Cape Care, which have called for a single-payer health insurance program in Massachusetts and Barnstable County.