Weather permitting, 1,000 people will gather Sunday around the state to talk about health care.

Wired together through the Internet, participants in Augusta and Brewer will discuss the challenges facing Maine’s health care system, including reducing costs, improving coverage and care and managing accessibility.

Called “Tough Choices,” the project was initiated by Gov. John Baldacci to expand the number of people participating in the debate about health care. Invitations were sent out to people picked specifically to ensure that a broad cross section of state residents participate – and to make sure the normal list of players in the health care debate don’t dominate the discussion. People were selected from around the state and represent proportionally the state’s different demographic groups.

The goal of the meetings is to provide input into the state’s health care plan, which is required every two years and is scheduled for release this summer.

Initially, we were taken aback by the social engineering used to pick participants; we appreciate open forums and open debate. But we also see the value in creating a representative group of state residents who can talk about their experiences, expectations and trepidation.

Attendees will be broken into small groups, where they will be led by a trained moderator. They’ll discuss and vote on different priorities and make decisions about the trade-offs between such things as convenience and efficiency.

Each person attending was given a booklet to read before the meeting that includes information about how health care is delivered and used in Maine.

When talking about health care, politics can never be far away. There’s certainly theater involved in gathering 1,000 people and using high-tech whiz-bang gadgetry to connect them. It makes for good stories and good pictures. But it also provides a forum for a lot of people to learn about the particulars of health care, offer their opinions and take the conclusions they draw back to their communities.

According to event organizers, the meetings will go on regardless of the weather. It was originally planned for Saturday and included a South Portland location. We’re hoping for good weather, a good exchange between the governor’s staff and the people they serve and good information about the best path for the state’s health care plan. We’d even settle for two out of three.