Issues of participants having NDIS reimbursable problems often come from plan misunderstandings. A commonly misconstrued section is transport funding.
This mistake in the NDIS budget often leads to bigger financial problems. It’s crucial for a participant or a guardian to fully grasp its inclusions so that this government assistance would be of great help.
NDIS participants can access funding for their travels, and the accounts would depend entirely on their needs. However, it doesn’t mean that the program covers every expense of a disabled or special needs person and their carers.
Below explains some essential things beneficiaries, or their guardians, need to know about this particular budget.
About Basic Transportation Cost
The key concept everyone should know is that NDIS covers fees incurred due to disabilities. The funds won’t compensate for day-to-day living costs and expenses individuals without special needs would contract, and a good example of this is regular fares.
Still, NDIS answers all additional transportation charges incurred solely and directly as a consequence of a disability. Other exceptions would be auxiliary charges to another funded support and transportation aid deemed valid and necessary.
Traveling With A Carer
As NDIS carefully defined reasonable expenses subject to coverage, the scheme won’t cover a disabled person’s holiday trip. That means the participant should pay for the hotel accommodation, airfare, and other costs incurred that have nothing to do with their disability.
If traveling with a carer, whether a family member or a care provider, the NDIS participant would also need to pay their trip expenses with their own money.
What Travel Costs Would NDIS Cover
Now that we’ve identified what other participants confuse themselves with, let us go straight to the items considered reasonable for NDIS coverage.
If traveling with a care provider, NDIS pays their billable hours. Still, a participant needs to justify that their condition requires a carer. Some possible travel expenditures covered by NDIS transport funding are:
- Training on how to use public transportation
- Additional costs incurred in hotels that are directly linked to the participant’s disability or special needs.
- Private transports and taxi fares for those who can’t use public transportation and have difficulties traveling on their own
- Dog guides for blind people
- Other transport-related aids and equipment such as canes, wheelchairs, etc
NDIS-covered costs that may be related to traveling but are not under the transport funding are:
- Prosthetic limbs and relevant high-end
- Vehicle modification as recommended by an accredited automotive expert
- Incontinence pads and other personal hygiene items incurred due to disability
Ask Your NDIS Plan Manager
The NDIS site provides documentation about different budgets, including transport funding. However, not all participants or their guardians would have the time to read through these details.
Under plan management, the program beneficiaries get a ton of benefits that would help them avoid problems with budgets. A manager will conduct meetings to identify the participant’s goals, as well as explain the entirety of their plan.
Moreover, NDIS-accredited plan management agencies would walk you through NDIS my portal, where you can view all necessary info you need to know about your plan.