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Government to Shift NDIS Eligibility to Functional Assessment by 2027
The federal government announced last month it will shift NDIS access to functional capability rather than diagnosis by 2027. People with motor neurone disease currently receive assessments and funding within seven days. Advocates and patients warn the rapid-response system must be retained as the average life expectancy after diagnosis is 27 months.
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The federal government announced a planned overhaul of the NDIS last month that would determine access by a person's functional capability rather than diagnosis by 2027. Australians with motor neurone disease, a rapidly degenerative illness with no cure, fear they will lose a priority pathway that currently approves support packages within seven days.
The average life expectancy is about 27 months for a person diagnosed with MND.
" "This includes an assessment from someone with expertise in MND, quick decisions for funding, and a package allocation that meets their overwhelming needs," she said. " Todd Johnson, 50, was diagnosed with MND four years ago and is president of MND Victoria. Under the current NDIS priority pathway Johnson was able to quickly access additional support as his disease progressed.
He said the disease needed a "different model and rapid responses" from the system. "People living with MND are losing function every week and the system has to move faster than the disease," Johnson said. When first diagnosed he was still working, fully healthy and walking around.
Now he is in a wheelchair and needs support for getting dressed and even rolling over. Johnson said people in the MND community were "very nervous and quite frightened" about potentially losing both the priority pathway and aspects of their package funding.
"When you consider the pathway might not be there, it's really concerning because a package that's right today might be dangerously inadequate in three months," he said.
