AUGUSTA — A new estimate of how many ineligible people received MaineCare benefits because of a computer glitch adds more than 5,000 beneficiaries to the previous count.

The state Department of Health and Human Services originally estimated that the computer error led the state’s Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, to continue covering as many as 19,000 people after they lost eligibility at the end of last year.

The Bangor Daily News reported Thursday that a report by a working group that is looking into the payments found an additional 5,300 people who mistakenly received coverage from Jan. 2 to March 10 of this year.

The working group is expected to brief the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee today. Meanwhile, officials are trying to determine how much the error will cost.

Beneficiaries can cycle on and off MaineCare as their personal circumstances change, such as getting pay raises or signing up for private insurance.

In cases in which ineligible patients went to the hospital or used medical services, MaineCare paid the providers, even when it wasn’t supposed to, according to the Bangor Daily News.

The problem has led to even deeper partisan issues in Augusta. Democrats have called for an investigation of DHHS, saying Commissioner Mary Mayhew and other administration officials covered up the problem while the Legislature was considering budget cuts to MaineCare in February.

The administration knew that the numbers it was providing were flawed, yet it never mentioned the problem, Democrats said.

Republicans have defended Mayhew, noting that the MaineCare computer problems were passed on to the LePage administration after plaguing the administration of Democratic Gov. John Baldacci.