clarify the meaning of permanence<\/a> and only grant participants access to the NDIS if they can first show they have exhausted \u201call appropriate\u201d treatment options.<\/p>\nFinally, it will include more detail on how NDIS eligibility may be limited for individuals already accessing support from other mainstream services.<\/p>\n
For example, if a person is receiving workers compensation or motor vehicle accident scheme support, they may not be eligible for the NDIS.<\/p>\n
What other NDIS changes are planned?<\/p>\n
As foreshadowed by Butler, the legislation will rework plan reassessments \u2013 when a participant requests additional funding for their NDIS plan because of unexpected or unbudgeted costs. The proposed changes will narrow such requests to moments of \u201csignificant and ongoing\u201d change to participants\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n
The NDIS determines support funding on a \u201creasonable and necessary\u201d basis, but the bill will add sustainability and equity to funding considerations.<\/p>\n
Plans will be suspended if reasonable attempts to contact a participant go unanswered. Plans can be revoked entirely if a participant cannot be contacted after being suspended for at least 90 days.<\/p>\n
Basic registration details will be required for a number of NDIS providers. The National Disability Insurance Agency will be given new monitoring and investigation powers to deal with any wrongdoing but will need to undertake risk assessments before approaching participants.<\/p>\n
Other changes include:<\/p>\n
Payments made to participants who have not kept appropriate records can be raised by the NDIA as debts. Providers without records could be handed a civil penalty.<\/p>\n
NDIS supports will need to be claimed within 90 days of delivery, reduced from two years.<\/p>\n
Automation for processing claims and payments will be allowed.<\/p>\n
Who will decide how the NDIS changes?<\/p>\n
While some specific changes to the NDIS are yet to be determined, the proposal will expand the health minister\u2019s powers considerably.<\/p>\n
One of those changes includes the ability to reduce funding for whole groups of supports. There are four main funding groups within a participant\u2019s budget: core, capacity building, capital and recurring.<\/p>\n
Core supports include personal care and transport, capacity building includes therapies and work programs, and capital supports include home modifications and assistive technology.<\/p>\n
Last month, Butler flagged he intended to claw back funding for social and community participation activities (within the capacity building funding pool) because it had grown \u201csubstantially bigger\u201d. Daily activities (also within capacity building funding) are also on the downsizing list.<\/p>\n
The minister will also have final say over maximum prices for NDIS supports and services.<\/p>\n
Finally, the bill includes a 12-month \u201cHenry VIII\u201d clause to give the minister sweeping powers to directly change NDIS laws without needing the support of states and territories.<\/p>\n
Are the changes centred on cost?<\/p>\n
While the government has talked up its focus on returning the NDIS back to its \u201coriginal intent\u201d, there\u2019s no doubt the scheme\u2019s fast-growing cost is the government\u2019s main priority.<\/p>\n
In the bill\u2019s explanatory document, there is also a suggestion the funding reduction could result in a funding gap for some participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo improve consistency and equity across the scheme, the application of \u2018reasonable and necessary supports\u2019 must link to consideration of what is reasonable for the scheme to fund,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means funding for some NDIS supports may be less than the actual cost of providing or acquiring the support.\u201d<\/p>\n
The federal budget papers revealed the government hopes to save $36.2bn from the changes and limit the scheme\u2019s growth to an average 3.6% until 2030.<\/p>\n
Are the changes set in stone?<\/p>\n
The bill has been introduced to parliament but it will be sent to an inquiry due to report back in June. It will hold at least two public hearings.<\/p>\n
At a press conference on Thursday, Butler suggested many of the details were still being worked through and would be consulted on with the technical advisory group \u2013 members of which will be chosen by the minister and the NDIA, and will include people with lived experience of disability.<\/p>\n
As for the questions around a potential payment gap for some supports, Butler provided a cryptic response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be quite differentiated pricing in place. What we\u2019re doing is providing the minister with the power to implement that, and that will become clear as we develop the detail over time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For now, watch this space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Funding for some services within the national disability insurance scheme will be slashed \u2013 even in cases where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-671774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}