Some doctors' offices are still charging patients co-payments for preventive exams, such as annual physicals and well-baby checkups, even though the Affordable Care Act prohibits the practice. "Doctors' offices and staff aren't really educated about what is covered," said Monica Lindeen, Montana's insurance commissioner and state auditor and vice president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. "They don't know what they need to bill for and what they don't." Because of the Affordable Care Act, most preventive health visits, such as mammograms, flu shots and colonoscopies, no longer require a co-payment or co-insurance if a person's coverage began after the law passed in 2010.
