AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A legislative panel has OK’d an investigation into a computer error that caused the state’s Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, to continue covering thousands of people after they lost eligibility.

The bipartisan Government Oversight Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize a investigation by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability.

State Health and Human Services Department officials earlier this year revealed that as many as up to 19,000 MaineCare beneficiaries continued to get benefits after they lost eligibility. The figure was later increased by 5,000. Democrats said information about the glitch was concealed from legislators.

Sen. Roger Katz, an Augusta Republican who co-chairs the oversight committee, says the newly authorized probe will focus on communications and not the computers, and making sure similar problems don’t happen again.