BILOXI, Miss. — On the third day of their annual meeting, governors from both parties raised concerns over a health care bill being pushed by Democrats in Washington, D.C.

In a heated closed-door session, both Republican and Democratic governors criticized the bill that many said could turn into another unfunded mandate from Congress. The issue dominated the afternoon discussion.

“The governors are concerned about unfunded mandates, another situation where the Federal government says you must do X and you must pay for it. Well if they want to reform health care, they should figure out what the rules are and how they are going to pay for it,” Democratic Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer told FOX News. ”Instead what they are proposing is — they’re figuring out the rules and forcing the states to pay for it.”

A major worry for many governors are cost increases that would fall on states to meet larger Medicaid requirements.

“This huge expansion of Medicaid would be extremely expensive in my state. We anticipate that it would increase spending on Medicaid by 50 percent, and that’s money we don’t have. And other states don’t have it either,” Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.), head of the Republican governors, said after the mid-day meeting.

The new chairman of the National Governors Association, Vermont Republican Jim Douglas said that while many in the country want to re-vamp the health care system, the governors feel the bill’s current structure unfairly burdens the states at a time when their budgets are already stretched thin.

“Our concern as governors is Congress not impose a cost that we can’t absorb at a time when our budgets are under tremendous stress,” Gov. Douglas told FOX News.

“I don’t know what the pace might be but we’re going to keep resisting an unfunded mandate from Washington,” he said.

Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat from Maryland, supports the current health care bill, touted heavily by President Barack Obama, but believes the anxiety from some governors on the reform proposal can be eased through negotiations with the Democrats championing the initiative in Washington.

“There’s are very very tough times every governor is struggling with their budgets but the fact of the matter is that continue to do what we have been doing hurts our budget in the short term and the long term. So let’s stay at the table and talk about our fears if some governors are fearful about unfunded mandates well let’s talk about that. Let’s work together and find a solution,” O’Malley said.

The governors conclude their meeting on Monday.