The 51-year-old member of People with Disabilities ACT, who is paralysed from the shoulders down, is determined to fight for the insurance scheme to be introduced.

''For me, is there an alternative? No, there isn't. So I'll kick and scream to make it happen,'' he says. Mr Fitzgerald says many people with severe disabilities in the US die because they can't afford vital services.

He says Australia has an opportunity to do something much better by introducing the national disability insurance scheme.

''The sheer cost of healthcare precludes people from surviving - euthanasia through lack of funds,'' he says. ''Or do we accept that we're a civilised society and pay for people - and pay properly?

''Because if we don't pay properly, then people are left in an isolated, underfunded spiral of … second-class or third-class citizenship.''

Mr Fitzgerald supports the government's plan to increase the Medicare Levy by 0.5 per cent to help fund the disability insurance scheme, but would rather the tax hike was big enough to cover the entire program.

''I think there should be a levy for the whole thing and I think that should dealt with like a sovereign wealth fund so that everybody knows that money is put away just to fund disability if and when catastrophic significant disabilities occur - either when people are born or have a significant accident,'' he says.

Mr Fitzgerald was injured in a mountain bike accident in 2000. He runs a technology and training business for people with disabilities.

Back in 2000, he was working in information technology and wiped out financially within weeks of the accident.

''I was earning $90,000 a year in 2000 and I was flat broke in four weeks. Life implodes when you have a major accident,'' Mr Fitzgerald said.