Govt forced to scrap NDIS independent assessments
'The reform was supposedly about fairness, but really it was about cost cutting,' says GP Dr James Best
The Federal Government has ditched its controversial plan to contract allied health workers to assess patients hoping to access NDIS support.
Announced last August, the proposal was meant to rein in the ballooning costs, with media reports claiming the scheme’s budget would hit $60 billion a year by the end of the decade.
The contractors used by the government would have conducted assessments over three hours, combining interviews and in-home evaluations to determine the extent of a person’s disability.
On Friday, NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds met with state and territory disability ministers but could not secure their agreement for the reform to go ahead.
