Taxpayers covering compo payouts for non-doctors due to bureaucratic bungle
Review recommends legislative amendment to close the loophole
2nd July 2018
Millions of dollars have potentially been squandered covering compensation payouts to nurses, pharmacists and other non-doctors after they were inadvertently included in the High Cost Claims Scheme set up during the indemnity crisis nearly 20 years ago.
The scheme, designed to ensure doctors in high-risk specialties like neurosurgery and obstetrics were indemnified so they could continue to practise, means taxpayers have covered 50% of any compensation payment made against doctors above a $300,000 threshold.
But according to a Federal Government review handed to ministers