Doctors defrauding Medicare is not the problem – it’s Medicare itself
The media claims don’t pass the pub test, but Medicare is malfunctioning.
Just after the media blow-up on what is, taken at face value, the biggest fraud scandal in the nation’s history, a behind-the-scenes bureaucrat named Brett Clark took to social media. He was the federal Department of Health’s primary statistician in compliance and was expressing bewilderment.
The ABC and Nine newspapers had launched a joint investigation that claimed $8 billion was being ripped out of Medicare by dodgy doctors every year.
“How this report can identify $8 billion, given my experience, is beyond me,” Mr Clark wrote.
More startling was the article on the AusDoc website by Professor Julie Quinlivan, the former head of the Professional Services Review.
