NDIS ‘to outstrip cost of Medicare within two years’

The Morrison government has warned the cost of the NDIS was becoming unsustainable due to the rising number of participants.

NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds. Picture: Getty Images

Disability providers have raised concerns about measures to rein in spending on the National Disability Insurance Scheme after the Morrison government signalled its cost was becoming unsustainable, with more people accessing the service than expected.

The nation’s peak body for non-government disability service organisations – National Disability Services – on Monday said the value of the scheme to participants could not be underestimated and any cost reduction needed to consider Australians with disabilities first.

It comes as The Australian revealed that the scheme’s 472,000 participants received $2.15bn in July, 3 per cent more than estimated in a sustainability report from the same month, with costs running 18 per cent higher than the same time last year.

NDIS Minister Linda Rey­nolds told 6PR on Monday the scheme would outstrip the cost of Medicare in less than two years if spending was not brought into line. “Five months ago, we thought the NDIS would overtake the cost of the Medicare in three years but on the current rates it will surpass Medicare in less than two years,” she said.

Senator Reynolds said while the scheme had been intended for Australians with the “most significant and permanent” disabilities, “We’ve got many more young children with autism and early developmental (issues), who despite us providing early childhood intervention, are not leaving the scheme as we thought that they would. So there’s a whole range of people trying to come into this scheme because they’re obese or they’ve got disabilities from that health condition.”

National Disability Services’ interim chief executive, Laurie Leigh, said the growth in participant numbers was expected and welcome. “Any examination of the scheme costs must focus on participant outcomes as well as the economic benefits such as additional jobs in the sector and the reduction of costs in other parts of the system, for example in health or justice,” she said.

Coastal Residential Service chief Dee-Anne Kapene said she held concerns about which areas would be cut to curb spending.

“Money needs to be saved and costs controlled (but) this should not come at the expense of the supports provided to the individual participants,” she said.

“There is too much money being spent on the administrative processes of the scheme, and what some may see as unnecessary items and this must be looked at before any cuts are proposed.”

Greens senator Jordon Steele-John said Senator Reynolds’s suggestion was appalling. “The Lib­eral government needs to stop blaming disabled individuals and instead release the costings and assumptions behind their claims that the costs of the NDIS are increasing,” he said.