WASHINGTON -- States already laden with ballooning Medicaid budgets are pushing Congress to step in with a plan to ease the costs of long-term care for the elderly, now often shifted into the Medicaid program.

"The demand for long-term care services under Medicaid will bankrupt state budgets unless another form of financing is found," said Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton, who serves as vice chairman of the National Governors Association.

Medicaid was created to provide health care to people on welfare, and, unlike Medicare, the program for the elderly and disabled, it provides long-term care benefits. Medicare offers limited benefits for long-term care, which consist of nursing home care and other types of assistance.

About a third of Medicaid beneficiaries are the elderly and disabled, many of whom have used up their finances trying to pay costs of a nursing home.

According to the General Accounting Office, a year in a nursing home typically costs $50,000 or more. In 2000, Medicaid paid 45 percent, about $62 billion, of total long-term care expenditures, the GAO said.

Medicaid is financed by a combination of federal and state money. On average, Washington pays 57 percent.

But with health care spending increasing, and the recession forcing tight budgets, states are sounding the alarm about Medicaid. At its February meeting, the National Governors Association began discussing a strategy for getting more federal money for Medicaid. The group also said it would form a commission to study Medicaid that would include governors, members of Congress, the administration and other experts.

At Thursday's hearing, Patton told senators that states were not prepared to deal with the needs of the estimated 77 million baby boomers who will enter retirement in coming years. So far, lawmakers have focused mostly on overhauling Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit for seniors.

"This is not an issue that can be put on the back burner until Social Security and Medicare are reformed," Patton said. "It is an issue that cannot wait."

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On the Net: Senate Aging Committee: http://aging.senate.gov

National Governors Association: http://www.nga.org/