NDIS clients reveal how they’ve been gouged by providers as Bill Shorten vows to act

An investigation has revealed how NDIS providers are charging vulnerable Australians more for services and items, while others get a cheaper deal. See the shocking accounts and massive bills.

National Disability Insurance Scheme providers have been caught rorting the system with price gouging and mark ups across a range of industries to target participants with a disability.

A Sunday Mail investigation has revealed NDIS providers are charging participants more for basic services including cleaning, personal training and physiotherapy, while charging able bodied customers a lesser rate for the same service.

It has also been found they is price gouging for home renovations and evidence of huge mark-ups for disability equipment, like a custom bed costing $11,000 through an NDIS plan but listed online at a retail price of around $5,000.

On Tuesday, in a speech at the National Press Club, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten will share his vision for the scheme and how he plans to cut the rorts.

It follows reports that a psychic healer was treating people on the NDIS with crystals and tarot cards, and clients paid $6000 extra for a respite package booked via the NDIS than a similar one booked privately.

Various businesses were contacted by the Sunday Mail about pricing, with physiotherapists and masseuses found charging NDIS clients up to $100 extra per hour.

Cleaners were similarly charging additional service fees averaging an extra $10-$20, while also being able to claim travel fees through the NDIS.

When asked about the price hike, one cleaning company blamed admin fees, while admitting their speciality NDIS-approved cleaners were not paid extra for NDIS jobs.

One physiotherapy business said their $80 price difference was due to the “quality time” given to NDIS patients compared to regular customers.

The NDIS is plagued with rorts involving providers overcharging. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

“It‘s a lot more in depth than someone just coming in with a sore knee or someone needing a back massage. It’s totally different,” they said.

Gardeners were found to be charging at fair base rates, but were also adding travel fees, as were tradies with one electrician found to charge $20 more per hour just to change light switches and electrical sockets.

Providers often charge the maximum limit set by the NDIS for their services while charging less privately, or for those claiming through Medicare or the Department of Veterans Affairs, which have lower price limits.

But one whistleblower revealed providers were able to “get around” price caps by altering invoices to show a doubling of services than what was provided.

“Some personal trainers charge -even though they might only do 45 minutes- they charge out for an hour and a half, but it’s not just personal trainers, it’s in general,” she said.

“That’s how people get around it, and if they’re not a registered provider, they don’t have to comply.

“In the fitness industry you have conversations. People think I’m raking it in because I have a lot of NDIS clients, and they say, wow you’re a provider and ask how much are you charging and I say the (NDIS) index price and they say wow you should be charging more and I don’t believe that’s very kosher.

“I hear of it a lot and it really gets my goat. It really is taking advantage because people forget that it’s that person’s money and it’s got to last them.

“The Government should put more info out for the caregivers too so they can question the prices given to them.”

Bill Shorten has promised to stop the rorts in the NDIS. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

One of the biggest areas of noncompliance is group classes, where providers are charging individuals a set price regardless of how many are in the class, when they should be splitting their fee between the number of attendees.

‘WHEN THEY COME TO THE HOUSE IT’S OVER $150’

Andrew, who chose to go by his first name only, has a wife and daughter who are both NDIS participants.

His family is meticulous with their NDIS spending and will sometimes pay out of pocket for services like physiotherapy to avoid money wastage or running out of their planned funding.

“With physio in particular, we’ve got very high costs for a 30-minute consultation with NDIS, compared to my wife going up the road to the physio for a separate appointment,” he said.

“It’s about $75 normally and when they come to the house, it’s over $150.

“Gardening is also very expensive compared to if you look around for one that doesn‘t charge to the NDIS.

Some have said gardening is costly on the NDIS. Picture: Thinkstock

“One gardener wanted to charge $350 a visit to manage the lawn, cleaning up some scrubs, something you can do in about two hours tops.”

Andrew has noticed some NDIS services like in-home cooking have disappeared due to being too costly and “running down” participants‘ annual budgets.

He said there is a massive lack of accountability for support co-ordinators and service providers, who can take advantage of vulnerable participants with exorbitant prices.“

A support co-ordinator for my daughter wanted to charge the NDIS 85 hours a year for about $105 an hour, just to co-ordinate her appointments. They rejected that, they said to me that’s just a laugh really,” he said.

“Luckily, we pay a fair bit of attention to it (budget spending).

“I know others who might be a lot more heavily disabled, and may not have quite the same people overseeing it. Probably might be taken more advantage of than what we were.”

‘A BED SOLD FOR $11K WAS $5K WITHOUT NDIS’

Father Shane Clews also carefully manages his son’s NDIS plan, and recently purchased a new bed for him.

The bed, specially crafted for someone with cerebral palsy, costs $11,000 through his son’s NDIS plan, but when searched online Mr Clews found it could be bought at a retail price of around $5,000.

Mr Clews said equipment price gaps were evidence of unregulated companies taking advantage of a system designed to help vulnerable people.

The NDIS works well for some but not others.

“The government must be wasting billions a year on this and I just don’t believe the country is in good enough shape financially to be able to afford it because you’ve got to take the money from somewhere, someone‘s benefiting from this,” he said.

Mr Clews also questioned why his son’s annual respite package which see’s him travel to the Gold Coast for a week’s stay, shot up from $7,000 to $13,000, without any additions being made to the service or a carer pay increase.

“It annoys me that the care workers who actually provide the care who come in and shower my son, help him get ready to go out in the morning and that sort of stuff, they get $25 an hour,” he said.

“Meanwhile, the company’s charging 60 bucks an hour or something, so the admin side of it is pocketing that $40 extra an hour, while the poor care worker’s are busting their guts.”

‘A LICENCE TO MAKE MONEY’

A grandmother, 67, who has Functional Neurological Disorder, received two quotes for a small accessible bathroom renovation in excess of $60,000.

In the end she found a builder who did it for $24,000.

Previously a private cleaner charged her $88 for two hours, but once she was on the NDIS her new cleaner charged the maximum allowed on the NDIS but over three hours, totalling $150.60 for the same job.

Cleaning is another costly NDIS option for some clients. Picture: Thinkstock

And a psychologist session is $214.41 on the NDIS, but $200 if she goes privately.

“It’s not the people using the NDIS that are ripping it off, it’s the middlemen,” the woman said.

“I don’t believe it’s the government’s fault but these companies see us as a licence to make money.”

‘SHE SUGGESTED I TAKE A $28K CRUISE’

Dr Bonnie Hampson self-manages her NDIS plan, but was told she had to engage a support co-ordinator to help her identify which NDIS services she may need.

After reaching out to multiple support co-ordinators, she was visited by a counsellor who – to Dr Hampson’s surprise – suggested she take a $28,000 holiday cruise.

“One of the things that she did suggest that I needed – without knowing me – was respite, which would take the form of a cruise,” Dr Hampson said.

Dr Bonnie Hampson is an NDIS participant. Picture: Tara Croser.

“She would have to come, and at times she would help me do reflective journaling, which I just thought oh my god, this is just nut territory. And of course, the price tag is $28,000.

“Just the range of services that she could provide me. She‘d have my funding spent in the first six months.”

Dr Hampson is a well-established academic, teaching business economics and accounting at a university level, and was able to reject the co-ordinator’s proposal.

But she said others who may be overwhelmed by managing an NDIS plan, or taking care of disabled children, could be pressured to pay for overpriced services.

Dr Hampson said she struggled to become an NDIS participant and says other vulnerable people have likely missed out on funding, with the system too focused on regulating applicants rather than service providers.

“They (NDIS) have an incredible mistrust of the applicant, and, and their primary focus, I believe, is just to not incur any more funding responsibilities,” she said.

“If they are auditing providers, how serious are their auditing processes? Did they just get the provider to tick and flick?

SIX CALLS, TWO EMAILS AND A $164.40 BILL

A Brisbane mum with complex anxiety, depression and PTSD said she was shocked to find her NDIS providers had put in unexpected claims, including false travel costs, while her recovery coach, who was paid to check in with her, was billing her $164.40 for six quick calls or two-sentence emails in one day.

“The NDIS is there to help me in my recovery and to reach my goals,” she said.

“But the system has made me feel like someone’s ‘payday’. I feel like I get charged for breathing.”

Professor John Gilroy from the University of Sydney, said the problem was that the NDIS had turned people’s disabilities into a “commodity”.

Mr Shorten said his priority was to ensure that every dollar in the NDIS was getting to people for whom it was designed.

“We will not tolerate the rorting and gouging that has been allowed to flourish in the scheme for nine years of Liberal government at the expense of participants,” he said.

“We want to tackle head on the unethical practices that rip off participants.”