Individualized disability support schemes and their impact on autism diagnoses

This paper examines the impact of individualized funding for disability supports on autism diagnoses. We identify these effects using the staggered roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which provides individualized funding for non-medical disability interventions. We find compelling evidence that the introduction of the NDIS has led to a 32% increase in reported autism prevalence and accounts for 47% of new diagnoses since the
introduction of the scheme. We also find a significant shift in diagnostic practices with a reduction in diagnoses from government subsided healthcare professionals. A lower threshold for recognition appears more important as a channel than catch-up in historical underdiagnoses.