Qld doctors may have rorted scheme: govt QUEENSLAND'S health minister says a small number of doctors may have deliberately rorted a health scheme. The scheme was introduced under Labor in a bid to recoup costs when privately-insured patients were treated in public hospitals. Doctors were offered generous allowances to ask all patients if they had private insurance, and if so to ensure they were billed that way. The idea was to limit the strain on the public purse by making insurers pay up for the care of private patients, regardless of where treatment occurred. The system was supposed to be cost neutral for taxpayers, but an audit has revealed the scheme sucked $800 million out of the public purse over the past decade. Auditor-General Andrew Greaves found that in more than 90 per cent of cases, allowances paid to doctors was far higher than the money flowing back into the public system. On Friday, Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said the government would try to claw back costs from the treatment of private patients. He said he'd been advised up to $50 million, spanning back two years, could be recouped. Asked if any doctors had deliberately rorted the system and committed fraud, he said: "Some, a small minority, may have taken advantage of it. My intention is to make sure doctors are properly remunerated and put on performance-based contract so we know what we're getting.