I have a 2ndary (and 3rd) insurance so my circumstance is different.

I know my MD will charge like $57 to get a plain office visit check up without nothing special and medicare will pay him $7. The rest gets pushed to my 2ndary.

My normal nothing fancy neuro is $197 Medicare pays $32 and the rest gets pushed to my 2ndary.

You have to remember the deductible for medicare as well. if you have not met it yet, they will take a portion of the bill and not pay it and use it as part of your deductible. If you have met it then carry on.

Since my MDs are hospital MDs they accept medicare because their hospital accepts federal funds, so they are forced to take the plan. Many private MDs who are in a private office will refuse medicare or medicaid patients. Some have even stopped taking any insurance. you pay cash and then YOU bill your insurance company. It saves them a bundle in office hours, staff pay and so forth. For that $7 my MD gets he probably had to pay his staff $30 to go chase it. He was telling me how much he was losing to accept insurance.