WASHINGTON -- Sen. Rick Santorum introduced legislation yesterday that would create new tax incentives for Americans to save for long term home healthcare.

The Pennsylvania Republican said the legislation was the product of his conversations over the past year with older Pennsylvanians struggling to pay for home health care as their medical problems become more complicated. Mr. Santorum's office submitted the bill late yesterday and a text was not yet available from Senate officials last evening.

Mr. Santorum said the measure was also an attempt to reduce the dependency of America's seniors on Medicaid. The cost of the federal program -- originally intended to provide health care for the poor -- has exploded in recent years as increasing numbers of seniors have depended on the program to pay for care in their later years such as nursing home costs, after draining their own assets.

"I don't mess around with Medicaid -- there are some things we have to do there -- but this is all an alternative to spending down [assets] and getting on Medicaid," Mr. Santorum said. "We give people options to prepare for better options than Medicaid," he said. "It just gives people a lot more flexibility."

Mr. Santorum's legislation includes four major provisions, according to his aides.

The legislation would allow employers to create new programs for their employees that allow them to set aside pre-tax dollars for long-term care insurance in the same way employees can currently set aside money for 401K plans.

It would also relax the rules for Flexible Spending Accounts by allowing employees to use money in those accounts for adult day care, home health care or respite care for any family member including parents, siblings, children, spouses or in-laws.

Mr. Santorum's proposed law would also create "long term care accounts" intended for individuals who may have trouble getting long term care insurance because of pre-existing conditions such as HIV or disabilities or those who cannot afford the insurance for medical care in later years.

Individuals would be permitted to put up to $5,000 a year in pre-tax money into the accounts, which would be set up like Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Mr. Santorum's staff said that unlike the Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) championed by the president, the "long term care accounts" would not have to be accompanied by a high deductible plan.

The money in the "long term care accounts" could be withdrawn without tax penalties if used for expenses such as nursing care or home health care, and it could be spent on members of the account holder's family, including parents, without gift tax penalties. If the owner of the account died, the money could be rolled over into a similar account for the person of their choice.

The final change would allow for the creation of programs that combine annuities and long term care insurance. Mr. Santorum's aides said the provision is intended to address concerns of people who do not want to spend thousands of dollars on long term health care insurance in the years before they need it.

A spokesman for Mr. Santorum's chief Democratic challenger, Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., said he was hesitant to comment on the legislation before he had access to the text, but he suggested that Mr. Santorum's move was election year maneuvering.

"Senator Santorum's record of voting for Medicare and Medicaid cuts as well as his championing of Social Security privatization gives him no credibility on seniors' issues or on long-term care," said Larry Smar, Mr. Casey's spokesman. "Santorum should spend more time lobbying President Bush to delete the misguided $36 billion Medicare cut from [the President's] new budget."

The President's 2007 budget proposes reducing the cost of Medicare, the medical insurance program for seniors, by scaling back Medicare payments to hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and home health care providers. Critics of the proposal have said it could reduce the quality of the program's services and reduce the number of providers willing to participate.

Mr. Santorum did not publicly introduce the bill yesterday because he has severe laryngitis. An official in the Senate clerk's office said the text of Mr. Santorum's measure, Senate Bill 2281, would not be available until it was printed by the Government Printing Office.