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The best town hall forum on health care reform will feature several members of Congress, has room for a huge audience and probably won't be disrupted by shouting or angry demonstrations.

It will be produced by UNC-TV and broadcast live at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

A professionally moderated, televised town hall meeting addresses most of the problems members of Congress have encountered during their August recess. Some public events have been dominated by crowds more interested in protesting than in asking questions and listening to answers from elected representatives. People have a right to express their views, even noisily, but that form of communication generates more heat than light. Rather than create that sort of situation, some congressmen, including Republican Howard Coble and Democrat Brad Miller, who both represent portions of Guilford County, simply stopped holding town hall meetings years ago.

Format keeps everyone on topic

The UNC-TV forum will be different. There won't be a studio audience, Steve Volstad, the network's director of communications, said Thursday. There will be a moderator and someone to screen callers phoning in questions. The public also can send questions by e-mail (healthcare@unctv.org) or through Twitter or Facebook. That doesn't promote a freewheeling back-and-forth, but it minimizes the possibility of distractions that can sidetrack meaningful dialogue. Everyone stays on topic.

The network invited North Carolina's two senators and 13 representatives. Naturally, all jumped at the chance to participate ... except most didn't.

Reps. Miller, Mel Watt, David Price and Bob Etheridge, all Democrats, were the first to accept. Thursday, Republican Sen. Richard Burr agreed, spokesman David Ward said.

Burr and Watt will take part via satellite uplink from Charlotte rather than from the UNC-TV studio in Raleigh.

Hagan and Coble decline

Others delayed a response or declined. Among those citing scheduling conflicts were Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and Coble, both of Greensboro.

UNC-TV put this event together quickly, giving the elected officials less than two weeks' notice at a time when they were keeping loaded schedules of meetings with constituents. Still, making arrangements shouldn't have been impossible.

"We did not have anything else on his schedule at 9 o'clock," Miller's communications director, LuAnn Canipe, said.

Others surely could have made time, too.

Miller "appreciates the opportunity very much," Canipe added. "He looks forward to a good debate."

Voicing different points of view

While the format is primarily question-and-answer, the participants will have a chance to engage each other in conversation. Maybe that raises a risk for friction -- although likely nothing like the hostility seen at some other forums. We'll hope not, anyway.

North Carolinians need to hear different points of view. The general assumptions, that Democrats favor a "public option" while Republicans oppose any health care reform at all, are much too simplistic.

Burr doesn't defend the status quo but wants changes that "cover everyone, are financially sustainable ... and focus on prevention, wellness and chronic disease prevention," his press secretary, David Ward, said Thursday.

Constituents can send questions asking Burr how he would accomplish those goals, especially financially sustainable universal coverage. Isn't that what everyone wants but can't agree how to achieve?

Can't duck health care issue

Hagan, Coble and the others who won't participate in the UNC-TV event aren't ducking the issue. They can't, because it's what their constituents are talking about everywhere they go. However, they are missing an excellent chance to express their views to a statewide audience, to answer valid questions and to productively engage their colleagues in conversation on this important topic. The television audience certainly will benefit.

UNC-TV is fulfilling its mission by providing this valuable programming, and the participating elected representatives are doing the same. If others find they can join after all, so much the better. These individuals are making decisions that affect the future health and financial well-being of all Americans. The more they communicate with the public, the healthier for everyone.