Card surcharges stopped on 1 October, and health is not exempt
From 1 October 2026 you can no longer add a card surcharge to a gap payment or a private fee. The RBA is explicit that businesses are not exempt unless a card network's rules or the law say so, and no exemption exists for health services. The cost does not disappear, it moves into your margin unless you reprice. Most payment providers switched the function off rather than waiting to be asked, so a practice that has not looked at its fees is absorbing it quietly.