Let me give you all a recent example for myself.

I needed to have an echocardiogram. I've had one before years ago, given by a ultrasound provided by my doctor...by a company that traveled from office to office. It was about $300 give or take.

I needed a new one following a toxic drug reaction to see if there was heart damage... so because my doctor discontinued her ultrasound contract --she is partly retired but still sees patients 3 x a week ----
----I went to our local hospital...where I often go for tests. Now I have Medicare A and my husband's insurance. The letter of cost that arrived was $3500 dollars. And the hospital billed Medicare A by a process where they now "admit" the patient before the test. The drug they used to visualize the inside measurements of the heart cost $1000 of this bill. When I showed it to my doctor she was horrified.

This is how the medical machine bloats itself with money.
I find this greedy practice very obscene myself.

Now that my husband is near retirement, we are both signing up for Medicare B as well. For those who know, Medicare A pays only for hospitalization, and Medicare B for doctor visits, and tests.
The process is lengthy and we won't be activated until July. Lots of paperwork for me, that has to be sent to his employer (which is the Fed. Gov't...so the delay is typical there).

But I expect a huge shift in costs, at both the doctor's and in any future hospital bill. (his pension includes continuing our present private insurance, so that it + medicare B means as non-working elderly we pay nothing for services .. as of now. ) No telling what the future holds however.