The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) draws on policy trends in the UK and Europe towards ‘personalisation’ of social services.
Funds are given directly to people with a disability so they can purchase services and supports that best meet their needs, rather than standard ‘one size fits all’ programs.
It has been argued that the NDIS has the potential to secure gains in health for hundreds of thousands of Australians living with a disability. The different model of care (i.e. personalisation) used by the NDIS is meant to enable access to more appropriate services, empowerment, social and economic participation – all of which are known social determinants of health. However, policies are only as good as their implementation.
In a paper by Gemma Carey, Eleanor Malbon, Daniel Reeders, Anne Kavanagh and Gwynnyth Llewellyn, the authors analyse the potential of the NDIS to redress, entrench or extend social and health inequities.
The paper argues that the way that funding is located, and not simply the amount of funding allocated, matters for health outcomes and inequalities.
The paper concludes that ‘personalisation’ approaches can widen inequities and inequalities unless careful consideration is given at both policy design and implementation stages.