The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is now formally being rolled out nationwide.

Providers believe under the arrangements they will have to fight to attract and keep business, and marketing and advertising expenses will rise.

In some states including Tasmania, the rollout will be staged, with Tasmanians aged between 12 and 14 eligible for the NDIS for the first time.

Chief executive of Hobart City Mission John Stubley said the NDIS would encourage competition between providers.

“Historically the Government handed out the work to organisations, and the client didn’t have a say on who was going to provide them with support,” he said.

“So you had organisations who really weren’t being held accountable for what they were providing.

“But this is now a model where, if a client’s not happy, they can go and seek support from another organisation.

“So all of a sudden you’ve got an organisation moving from a model of being a protected quasi-government organisation to being essentially a commercially focused organisation,” he said.

Source: abc.net.au