Capability and Culture of the NDIA

Submission 54

In mid-2022 my 15 year old daughter was accepted into the NDIS.

At our next psychologist appointment, I mentioned the NDIS to the receptionist that we’re now on the NDIS and immediately the receptionist said that she had to charge a different rate because it was “set by the” NDIS“.

Instead of the usual charge of $80, she charged us $156. Our psychologist is provisional and in her final year of supervision.

I thought this was odd, so I investigated.

The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2022-23 on page 10 states: Providers should not indicate in any way to participants that the prices that they charge are set by the NDIA. In general, providers should not charge NDIS participants more for a support than they would charge anyone else for the same support.

We had been paying $80 per hour for the past year.

The psychologists full fee listed on the practice website was $135/hour.

I was surprised about the difference so I followed up with the practice manager. They told me that I could choose not to pay the NDIS amount but if I did I then the psychologist would not do a report for my child when it came time for the end of plan review. And the report writing time would also be charged on top of this inflated fee. I consider this to be blackmail - they want us to pay double for two years so that we can continue to receive NDIS in the future.

The practice manager also said that the $80/hour fee is low because our region is a low socio-economic area and that the NDIS subsidises these non-NDIS clients by us paying more for our appointments.

At another private appointment with a different person (counsellor) I mentioned this difference. She replied that she also charges more for NDIS clients because a lot of them are autistic and she has had to spend thousands of dollars doing training to learn how to support autistic clients better. And that yes, she considers it appropriate to ask NDIS clients to pay more and to subsidise her other non-NDIS clients.

I contacted my National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) representative who responded that I could file an official complaint. However, this is not an action that I am willing to take. It is hard enough getting an appointment in a small town with any medical professionals, let alone being fired as a client for reporting them.

I believe that for the NDIS to survive into the future (which is desperately needed) that the NDIA needs to have stronger guidelines about what providers can and should charge and processes that they must follow. It is not ok for NDIS participants to pay double what other clients pay. It means that we get half as many appointments as we otherwise could have funded.

I have heard multiple stories of other people on the NDIS who are charged more simply because the provider knows that they are an NDIS participant. Multiple providers who charge the maximum rate just because they can.

I hope this committee can come up with some solutions to this issue.