The National Disability Insurance Scheme is a program of the Australian government which finances expenses related to disability. The scheme has been legislated to address the needs related to disability. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is meant for those who are disabled and require various kinds of financial support to lead an independent life.
The NDIS plan administrator is supposed to be qualified, trained and possesses the experience to oversee the running of the scheme. The role of a plan administrator is essential since they are in charge of all the details related to the welfare of the policyholders.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme provides income support to people who are incapable of earning through any employment. These people may include old age, pregnant women, mentally disabled and physically disabled people. The government also proposes a test that will determine the income capacity of a person. Once this is done, the government will back the applicant with a certain percentage of disability benefits.
The scheme offers several disability supports, i.e., Employment and Training Allowances, Incapacity Benefit, Incapacity Supplement, Carer’s Allowance, State Training Allowance and Income Support. The amount of each support varies from one individual to another depending on their age, physical or mental condition and the type of disability they have. The training and employment allowance is meant to assist the plan holders in continuing their education or training as per the needs. The Incapacity Supplement is provided to those who require special medical care in recovery, rehabilitation and maintenance.
The incapacity supplement ensures that they get financially supported for the cost of medical assistance, nursing care and equipment needed for recovery or maintenance. The Medicare supplements offered by the Australian government include Pharmaceutical Assistance, Nursing Equipment, Personal Effect Furniture, Scrap Insurance and Access Financing. Apart from these, there are other disability supports like Home-Start, Incapacity Supplement, Disability Board, and Income Support funded by the State and Federal governments, respectively. To avail of any of these grants, an applicant needs to meet the eligibility criteria set by the authorities. The eligibility criteria are:
To avail of any of the grants mentioned above or schemes, the applicants must fulfil the eligibility criteria. The amount of grants or support depends on various factors such as the age, social security number, income and family size of an applicant. For instance, if a person receives a pension or other government benefits, he will not be eligible for the Medicare scheme. Similarly, people with disabilities who do not receive any other type of monetary support, such as Disability Allowances, Employment Support Program or Parental Leave scheme, will not qualify for the Social Security Disability Insurance plan.
The increase in the number of aged people due to increased life expectancy and fewer accidents has led to an increase in the number of people with disabilities. As per statistical data available at Statistics Australia, in the decade of twenty-five years from 1996 to 2021, almost twenty percent of all people who received social security payments fell below the lowest income group, the single-parent family. This was followed by the decade of twenty-five years from 2021 to 2021, when almost forty percent of all recipients fell under the lowest income group, which was the unattached person with disabilities. However, this trend gradually changes with more families being separated or having children, resulting in more older people moving up the income ladder.
Although National Disability Insurance (NDIS) is not a taxable item, it attracts a Medicare Supplement Tax equal to fourteen percent of the gross salary or wages. This is to ensure that the money supplied by the scheme is used to benefit the disabled. The age of the recipient also determines the rate of Medicare Supplement Tax. It is payable based on the schedule price for the month in which the benefits are paid. If you are under the age of sixty-five, you would have to pay ten percent, while if you are over the age of seventy-five, you would have to pay twelve percent.