A change to the Medicare system will see older Australians denied rebates for GP-ordered knee scans from November 1.

A government review has found the number of knee MRIs has more than tripled in five years, costing taxpayers a whopping $38 million, triggering the change.

It’ll affect close to 80,000 Australians each year aged over 50.

National Seniors Australia Chief Advocate Ian Henschke tells Chris Smith government should target the overuse of scans.

“We do know that there are lots of issues around this and I think the main one to uncover is whether or not there is money being wasted in MRI scans.

“I think they should be targeting the overuse rather than target the patients.”

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