Healthcare Policy Advocacy

Running head: HEALTHCARE POLICY ADVOCACY
HEALTHCARE POLICY ADVOCACY ASSIGNMENT
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
Policy advocacy can be defined as a various kind of activities by non - profit or
governmental organisation to influence the decision made by the policy makers such as
government body or organisation (Mosley, 2013). Advocacy for the policy can be ranging
from the conventional methods like lobbying, litigation as well as public education and
awareness (Farrer et al., 2015). In addition to that, it can also be included as activities like
leadership development, network creation, and relationship building. Above the activities,
lobbying is specifically employed to influence the policy makers to change any particular
policy or to create a new legislative (Birkland, 2015).
In the modern health care society, advocacy for policy plays huge role for the greater
good of the people as effective policy advocacy can raise awareness among the public for a
particular health care issue which was neglected or being overlooked in a particular
community (Cohen& Marshall, 2017).Therefore, positive policy advocacy can be utilised to
implementation and the creation of the better health policy (MacIndoe& Whalen, 2013).
Hence, the purpose of this article is to advocate for a health policy for the better of
public health with respect to a particular health issue and an organisation which advocates for
that particular health issue. In that context, the organisation body that were chosen for this
article is ‘National Disability Insurance Scheme’ or NDIS. The health issue for which the
health advocacy will be provide in ‘Autism’. Therefore, in the following sections, the back
ground of the organisation body and health issues will be discussed in the comprehensive
manner. In addition to that aim, objectives, and recommendation related to this policy
advocacy will be discussed in the following sections.

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Background of the National Disability Insurance Scheme:
The inception of the National Disability Insurance Scheme occurs due to the public
inquiry which implores the Productivity Commission of the Australian Government to create
a long term disability support and care system. In this regard, the Productivity Commission of
the Australian Government received more 1000 inquiry from the disability sector and the
disability community (Ndis.gov.au, 2019). As a result of this public inquiry, the National
Disability Insurance Scheme were established in the mid- year of the 2013 by the act of NDIS
Act 2013 as well as the creation of the NDIA or National Disability Insurance Agency. The
activities and the commencement of the National Disability Insurance Scheme began in the
month of July in the same year of 2013(Ndis.gov.au, 2019). The first trial of the National
Disability Insurance Scheme began in the Tasmania followed by the South Australia, Barwon
area of Victoria, and Hunter area of New South Wales. The trial period lasted for three years
and the National Disability Insurance Scheme started working in full- fledged manner in the
year 2016 (Ndis.gov.au, 2019).
The governance of this National Disability Insurance Scheme is shared among all the
Australian government and all the government provides input and insights regards to the
policy’s scheme, governance and funding. However, National Disability Insurance Agency is
the primary administrator for this scheme and for this matter, it has a governing body.
National Disability Insurance Agency is also responsible for all the funding that this scheme
receives and requires (Ndis.gov.au, 2019). On the other hand, the Board of the National
Disability Insurance Agency is responsible for the functions, performance, and the strategic
direction of the National Disability Insurance Agency. This National Disability Insurance
Agency Board is commonly advised by the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Independent Advisory Council for the administrative manner. In addition to that,

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Commonwealth Minister for the upholding and the administration of the NDIS Act
2013(Ndis.gov.au, 2019).
National Disability Insurance Scheme works in association with several policies
which is generally handled by the National Disability Insurance Agency. These policies
include:
 Freedom of information
 Information public scheme(Ndis.gov.au, 2019)
In addition to these policies, this National Disability Insurance Scheme works with
many different strategies for the implementation and health awareness and public health
advocacy. These strategies are:
 Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy – this strategy enables National
Disability Insurance Scheme to work with individuals from much different and
diverse background. The reason behind this strategy or the reason behind the
implementation is that more than 26 per cent of Australians born outside the
Australian continent in diverse culture(Ndis.gov.au, 2019).
 Rural and Remote Strategy – the aim and goal of this strategy is to provide
equality among the people in the rural area in term quality of the support and
care and accessibility to the National Disability Insurance Scheme
(Ndis.gov.au, 2019).
 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy – It has been acknowledged in
many different literature that there is a gap in health care service among the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Hence, this strategy was
implemented to provide equality to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander