National Disability Insurance Scheme. Would you pay it?

[Edmond Dantes]

Came across this article

http://www.news.com.au/opinion/for-...r-costs-22000/comments-fnh4jt54-1226632421894


Some interesting people commenting this article:

"$22,000 for a wheelchair? Really? a basic wheelchair? A brand new car can be bought for less... If you want all the bells and whistles you can stump the cost of it yourself. The government should only assist you getting the minimum you require to be mobile."

and how about this one:

"NO sorry I didn't ask for it and why should everyone else pay for it when in some cases these clowns did it themselves. This being when they were out on the grog or on drugs and hurt themselves their stupid problem not mine."

Trying to leave this poll out of political reasons (gevernment stuff up, liberals, greens, labor, etc), would you pay $300?

 

[cimbom]

Personally, I support this scheme but also believe that all health costs for everyone (not just disabled people) should at the very least be completely tax deductible. I don't have any disability in terms of the commonly accepted meaning of the term but this financial year will be out of pocket 12 - 13k due to medical expenses. The bulk of this is due to surgery I had that was both not covered by Medicare or the health insurance, which I pay 2k/year on top of the above expenses for. That's an awfully large amount of money for someone who is on an income of 63k. If Medicare is not going to cover treatment for all medical conditions (which it should) then tax deductibility of the entire amount is the minimum that should be provided - not the 20% nonsense offered now.

 

[Nemo30]

I support the scheme up to a point.

I whole heartedly agree that people with a disability should be adequately provided for. However, I've heard numbers bandied around about 1 in 5 Australians have a disability - surely there needs to be some qualification here about what is covered and what isn't.

I wonder at what point it will become similar to the disability support payment where every tom dick and harry has their hand out.

I also think it should be paid for from consolidated revenue, not a new tax.

 

[Aaron_C]

No I do not support it. A large government bureaucracy controlling handouts with everyone oo-ing and aah-ing about how noble it is - this can only end in unmitigated disaster.

 

[cimbom]

I wonder at what point it will become similar to the disability support payment where every tom dick and harry has their hand out.

I haven't read too much into it so I could very well be wrong but won't the money go to cover actual medical expenses rather than just giving people cash like the DSP?

 

[rchad]

Ndis

Each and every one of us are one accident short of attaining a potential disability

 

[Angel]

Did this topic hit a raw nerve?

Of course the average ignoramus doesn't care a zot about anyone other than themselves. Just wait until Matt slips over a spilled coffee in his own home and breaks his neck. O perish the thought. He wont be able to sue the CTP insurer for his car rego, he wont be able to sue the local football club and he wont get very far with his landlord either. Tuff, Matt. Deal with it yourself. (Try getting a latte when you are in rehab)

If this country had a higher population (or consumer base), we might be able to get wheelchairs for half the price they cost now. O that's right, they are not a high-turnover product imported from Asia, but rather custom built by local workers in Australia where labour and steel costs a motza.

Just like how a company ups their quote for anything with the word "wedding" in the title, so too for any goods or services containing the word "disability". That is on top of the fact that wheelchairs can be custom built according to its occupant's weight, size and level of mobility.

But dont worry Matt, there are plenty of disabled people who will die one day soon and relieve you of the blot they make upon your landscape. Like the boy I teach whose parents sold their home and now rent so they can buy him an electric wheelchair and a few other aides for their home to make his final years as comfortable as possible. The disease he has acquired is terminal, he is not a druggie.

Who the heck is Matt anyway???

 

[Nemo30]

I haven't read too much into it so I could very well be wrong but won't the money go to cover actual medical expenses rather than just giving people cash like the DSP?

I don't know the details either. I would support something along those lines, however we kind of already have that. 20% of medical expenses over a certain amount (was about $2k when I used it) can be claimed back on tax.

There is also a safety net that means you dont pay for medicine once you have reached a certain threshold and if you have a health care card most medicines are free.

 

[big_head]

Rchad,

which is why people should have personal insurances in place.

 

[cimbom]

I'm sorry to hear about the situation your friends and their child are in Angel. That must be really terrible. Although the cynical part of me believes that those prices are not just due to higher labour costs but also because the items are so important to the people who purchase them that they will pay any price really (and also because we're price gouged for just about everything in Australia).

 

[Nemo30]

My husband works with a man who is a quadriplegic - he does everything with a pointer in his mouth.

Hubby says he always feels guilty calling in sick - if his colleague can get up every morning and go to work, so can he.

There is a girl at my work who is a quadriplegic too - she does have limited movement in her hands. I find both of these people inspirational.

 

[Mooze]

Whilst we do need something, in it's current form it's far too open to being abused. Also the government can't just keep increasing taxes on a whim because they have not done their figures correctly, especially as revenue is up (not on expected but on previous) and they still can't balance.

 

[HiEquity]

News Ltd is not a good source of information about anything.

The Productivity Commission is a much better source. Their report into Disability Care and Support can be found here. It assessed all the options and recommended the basic form of what the NDIS has now turned out to be. In order to say you don't support the NDIS you should first be aware of the costs of the status quo. The current support system/s are clearly inefficient and ineffective - if you read the report you can easily see why.

The actual NDIS information can be found here. With basic FAQs to get started.

I support universal health care initiatives like Medicare and this because I prefer to live in a civilised society where we treat the less fortunate with compassion. I don't mind paying at all - it would be worth it at twice the price.

Of course it remains to be seen whether it will be implemented in a way that actually leverages the benefits the Productivity Commission predicted... the proof will be in the pudding.

 

[Crabnet]

I haven't read too much into it so I could very well be wrong but won't the money go to cover actual medical expenses rather than just giving people cash like the DSP?

It's more than that. Now someone, often family, has to take on the nearly full time care of a lot of the people with disability. Those people want help to make their lives easier.

Productivity Commission report on estimated costs here.

 

[Angel]

Although the cynical part of me believes that those prices are not just due to higher labour costs but also because the items are so important to the people who purchase them that they will pay any price really (and also because we're price gouged for just about everything in Australia).

Thank you for your kindness, Cimbom.

As to the second part, I agree entirely. Yeah a wheelchair really is $22,ooo - Price gouging and guilt-marketing.

Thank you HiEquity and Crabnet for posting the links to the NDIS for us to read.

 

[Perp]

which is why people should have personal insurances in place.

What insurance can you purchase against having a child born with a disability?

 

[big_head]

It's a good point Perp. I agree in these cases then yes government help must be attainable. I share the concern of others that the scheme will be taken advantage of. Thanks for the links, i will read the reports.

 

[Jen_PFR]

I absolutely support the NDIS. But then I don't particularly object to paying tax generally. I can't remember who it was that said, 'Tax is the price I pay for civilisation', but it encapsulates how I feel about society - for example, I don't mind the fact that we have unemployment benefits that go for longer than 6 months, as in America.

There are always going to be people who take advantage of the situation. I don't care. It's the cost of doing business, and there are people who will do this regardless of what the situation is. I would rather put up with the fraction of people who take advantage to ensure that others who can't help their situation (eg children etc) have the basics.

Just my 2 cents of course

 

[K_Raheja]

although, i have not read the report ..i support NDIS but not the bureaucrats running it...
why can't they find other ways to pay for it...for example cut the fat in public service and all the wasted IT projects they fail to deploy.

Dept of Health in Vic has wasted $15mill over last 6 years on bungled project...but the morons don't want to quit...they are still at it..wasting another $1mil this year...and god knows how much more..

Now multiply this to all the other dept's over all states...sure there is money to be found.

 

[weg]

There are some great services already out there that desperately need more funding to be able to be expanded on and improved ie. special ed and assistance for disabled students to give them more choice and sevices to attend mainsteam schools, specific education for students with unique learning requirement like autism (many more places required), disabled housing, etc.

The people on the ground working these services are the people who know where money needs to be spent.

How much input have these people had, and will these services get the money?? From what i read it doesn't appear necessarily so with some existing services to lose money to implement this.

I suppose my main concerns are that it could be a poorly executed plan with money spent in areas with a lesser optimum benefit, not to mention the possiblity of low level gouging as it's contracted out to private industry, and the waste through bureaucratic implementing.

We've seen plenty of that already - remember the GP clinic bunders, and the -no show- cash promises for good teachers, NBN (no cost benefit analysis, gouging), school halls, insulation we had to have, etc.

With the kind of money being pumped into this scheme one hopes we get value for money and not a Gillard legacy that ends end up as another botched up and wasteful scheme.