The Carer Collective made the news!
Well our illustrious leader did anyway….
Kat shared her opinion in a recent article published in the Herald Sun about NDIS and plan manager NIB Thrive.
NDIS plan manager NIB Thrive loses 3000 disabled participants over payment processing delays
NIB figured it could make a motza in the lucrative $52 billion-a-year taxpayer-funded scheme, targeting a profit margin of 35 per cent - five times fatter than what it makes from private health cover.
But NIB made a mess of integrating all the companies and servicing the 46,000 clients it bought.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) stepped in, issuing a compliance notice to NIB which warned that the company was at risk of contravening the NDIS Act by failing to meet conditions of registration.
NIB Thrive was required to explain the cause for delays in processing times and how it would fix them.
Kat shares her experience
Brisbane's Kat Abianac moved her son Parker's NDIS plan away from NIB Thrive. Parker, 12, has Down syndrome and autism.
Ms Abianac, who provides training to parent carers, also switched her clients.
"Some parents were having to call NIB six, seven, eight times," Ms Abianac said. "NIB didn't have an escalation point.
"They were having major problems," she said, adding that she hadn't seen any proof that things had changed since.
So, which plan manager did Kat switch to after the NIB nightmare?
Meet Vanessa from Living Plan Management. The lady that Kat swears by!
Kat switched to Vanessa’s services following the NIB hassles.
A review from Kat:
"All I can say about Vanessa Woodley's Plan Management services is repeating what I just told a friend.
It's like… flying private, vs being in cattle class on a cruise ship.
I love that I never have to sit around arguing with random underskilled staff on the phone! In fact, I rarely need to call you, because there’s never any issues in the first place.
Thankyou so much, Vanessa, for creating a new standard for plan managers to aspire to. You have personally increased the quality of my life greatly."
Living Plan Management was established by Vanessa following the birth of her daughter Olivia/Liv who has Down syndrome.
Liv is sweet, cheeky, determined and brings immense joy to those around her but her unexpected diagnosis propelled Vanessa on a steep learning journey about disability, inclusion, advocacy and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Vanessa has over 20 years experience in financial services, holds a Masters of Commerce (Financial Planning) and is a Certified Financial Planner. She has bookkeeping experience and is a member of Bookkeepers Association of Australia.
The combination of Vanessa’s expertise in financial management and lived experience of the NDIS gives her a unique perspective to support parents manage their children’s NDIS plans.
Vanessa says, "Parenting a child with disability can bring a whole lot of extra.... extra joy, extra love, extra celebrations when milestones are reached but also extra challenges and more to do (on top of the busy modern parenting load).
Juggling therapy, medical appointments, education consults, continuously searching for the best supports and advocating for your child can sometimes be a lot. Whilst not all of those tasks can be delegated, managing the financial aspects of your child’s NDIS plan is one thing you DON’T have to do.
Living Plan Management deliver high quality NDIS plan management services so you have more time to focus on the things that really matter… because life is for living."
Register for Plan Management using Vanessa’s services here.
Kat's tips for finding a plan manager
If you’re still deciding, or you’d like to use a larger organisation, or are simply in the process of researching a new plan manager and would like to choose the best one possible, here are Kat’s tips:
1. Ask your friends who are participants or carers of participants who they recommend, and why. You can do this one on one, or you can ask in your favourite Facebook group.
2. Check out their reviews on Google, Facebook or their website. Don’t worry too much about how many five stars they have! You’re looking for any trends or things in common with the lower ratings. If there seems to be a running theme with the complaints, and it’s an area that would affect you personally, they may not be the plan manager for you.
3. Call the plan manager you’re considering switching to, and ask them a simple question to assess their customer service. Maybe something like, ‘I’m considering changing providers. What’s your service standard for processing invoices?’ After the call, consider things that happened like the call wait time, how your experience went, and anything you liked or disliked about the interaction.
Good luck. We wish you the best and simplest NDIS journey!
Remember, Carers are just like any other Australian, skilled and qualified in many industries, and many of these are transferable to the NDIS space just like Kat and Vanessa have achieved.
Kat adds, “When you support your own community instead of conglomerates like NIB, people will literally just care about you more.”
NB: No secondary gain, gift, or financial incentive was received for endorsing these providers. Perceived conflicts of interest were considered and discussed. The Carer Collective and/or Kat Abianac are not: A related third party, the same or connected organisation, an organisation from which the person or provider receives a secondary gain, gift, or financial incentive, and no actions of signing up to use this provider by participants as a result of our endorsement will benefit our own interests in any way.
