Money
The honest version. Most of what you will read about rebates applies to children, and repeating it to an adult wastes their time and money.
Adult Autism Assessment Perth arranges autism and ADHD assessments for adults and adolescents across Perth and WA. This page is about what an adult can and cannot claim.
A diagnostic autism assessment for an adult is generally not rebatable on Medicare. You should budget for the full fee.
Anyone implying otherwise is either talking about children or being loose with the truth.
Medicare does carry items for autism assessment and for early intervention. They exist under the Helping Children with Autism framework and they are age-limited — built around diagnosis and treatment in childhood, with the assessment items directed at children rather than adults.
An adult seeking a first diagnosis at 34 or 47 falls outside them. That is a policy gap, not a technicality you can argue your way around, and it is the single most common source of confusion on this subject.
A GP can write a Mental Health Care Plan, which provides a Medicare rebate for a set number of psychological treatment sessions in a calendar year.
That is genuinely useful, and it is not the assessment. The plan rebates therapy — support after a diagnosis, or help with anxiety or depression alongside it. It does not rebate the diagnostic assessment itself.
So the sequence that does work for some people is: pay for the assessment privately, then use a Mental Health Care Plan for whatever support you decide you want afterwards.
This one genuinely varies, and the only answer that binds anyone comes from your own fund.
Extras cover sometimes contributes toward psychology consultations. Many policies specifically exclude assessment while covering therapy, which catches people out. Whether it applies depends on your fund, your tier, your annual limits and whether you have already used them.
What to ask, precisely: ring your fund, say you are having an adult autism assessment with a registered psychologist, and ask whether the specific item numbers your psychologist will use are claimable on your policy. Ask for the answer in writing. A general "we cover psychology" is not an answer to this question.
The NDIS does not fund a diagnostic assessment to establish eligibility. It funds supports after access is granted, and it asks for evidence of a diagnosis as part of the access request. So the diagnosis generally comes first and at your own cost.
Where the NDIS does become relevant is the functional capacity reporting that goes with an access request or a plan review. That is a separate piece of work and is quoted separately — see NDIS evidence requirements.
An assessment undertaken to obtain workplace adjustments is occasionally raised as a work-related expense. It is not a straightforward deduction and depends on your circumstances. Ask a tax agent rather than a psychology website, including this one.
Adult autism assessment in Australia generally runs $1,500 to $2,500. Adding ADHD at the same time typically adds a few hundred rather than doubling it, because the developmental history is shared.
Our indicative fees are $1,650 for an autism assessment, $1,800 combined with ADHD, and $590 for NDIS report preparation where it is needed. Confirmed in writing before anything is booked. Full detail on the pricing page.
That is your call and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What adults report getting for the money is workplace adjustments that stick, an end to being treated for the wrong thing, and in many cases the first coherent explanation of their own life they have been offered. None of that is guaranteed, and a report is not a solution on its own.
Medicare item descriptions and eligibility are published on the Services Australia site, and the MBS Online item search is the authoritative reference for any specific item number. Assessment practice standards are set out in the National Guideline for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism in Australia.
Send an enquiry and you will have availability and a fixed price back, usually the same working day.
