Members of the Northwest Missouri Central Labor Council have a goal in mind for the coming campaign season ... their members will not be uninformed when it comes to the nation’s health-care problems.

About 60 people got together in St. Joseph Monday night for a crash course on what labor officials believe to be a key issue in the coming elections.

“It’s an educational process so our members know where some of these candidates stand,” said Randy Kiser, AFL-CIO political director for the region. “What everybody agrees with, we have to make some changes.”

The health-care informational effort heads to the streets on May 17 when council members and volunteers will go door-to-door to talk with fellow union workers about the issue. That effort begins at 10 a.m. at Callison Hall, 1222 S. 10th St.

The meeting Monday, also at Callison Hall, included facts and figures about a health-care system the AFL-CIO regards as “broken.” The repeated mantra was that coverage costs too much, covers too few and excludes too many.

Materials distributed cited 47 million Americans, including 8.7 million children, who have no health coverage. A poll showed that one-third of people who have insurance worry about losing it. Health costs, the union handouts said, are a factor in half the nation’s personal bankruptcies.

Mike Veale, labor council president, said the information is not just a concern for union members.

“This is a discussion for all America,” he told the gathering. “I think America is desperate to get this health care under control.”

While the AFL-CIO has yet to endorse a candidate for president, those present made clear their opposition to the health plan proposed by Republican John McCain. They said the McCain plan would fail to cut costs, fail to cover more people and would make health-care premiums part of an individual’s taxable income.

“John McCain does not do anything to foster good health care in the United States,” said Bill Caldwell, a union member and chairman of the Buchanan County Democratic Central Committee.

Ken Newton can be reached at kenn@npgco.com.