There are claims doctors are ripping off the Medicare to the tune of $200 million a year by scheduling patient appointments on weekends and after hours to pocket larger rebates.
Official figures show there were more than 4.3 million after-hours consultations last year.
The number of GPs seeing people after 8pm has jumped by 34 percent since last year, costing taxpayers more than $197 million in doctor fees.
And according to News Ltd, the rort is much deeper with some medical practices charging patients $500 for after-hours care, despite receiving thousands of dollars in grants to provide the service.
Dr Tim Woodruff from the Doctor's Reform Society says the main cause is the continuing downgrade of our Public Hospital system.
“After-hours access to doctors is a huge problem to Australian-wide,” Mr Woodruff said.
“In fact that’s why the payments are there.
“We’ve downgraded our hospital system through the federal government policy effectively reducing the amount of money going to states to run public hospitals.”
The misuse is believed to be linked to changes to Medicare in 2005.
The revelations have reportedly shocked federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon, who has vowed to revamp the system.
