National Disability Insurance Scheme Saves $1 Billion

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which costs $42 billion a year and has been growing at more than 10 percent a year, has finally delivered some good news for the government, spending $1 billion less than previously forecast in the 2024/25 federal budget. Concern over the ballooning cost of the scheme led politicians to pass new laws, which came into effect last month, to cap growth at 8 percent per annum. Despite the saving, growth for the current financial year is set to be 12 percent, though that’s a reduction from the 19 percent recorded over the previous 12 months. Without reforms, the cost of the NDIS is projected to exceed $50 billion a year by 2025/26 (at which point it would be higher than the universal health program Medicare), and reach $120 billion a year by 2034. More than 660,000 people with disabilities are participants in the NDIS....