The $28 billion Medicare system is being abused by medical professionals who are rorting processes, and the fraud, errors and over-servicing is costing an estimated $8 billion a year.
A joint investigation by ABC's 7.30 program, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age has uncovered flaws that make the systems easy to rort and difficult to detect fraud and errors.
But how does it work and could it be happening to you?
