CAN you really shop for doctors and hospitals the way you would for airfares and flat-screen TVs?

Health care consumers are encouraged to comparison-shop on things like doctor’s fees and heart surgery rates. But unfortunately, most of us have little clear or useful information to go shopping with.

“When you go to the doctor, how much you fork over when all is said and done is often just a mystery,” said Dr. Anthony P. Geraci, a Manhattan neurologist who is trying to buck that trend by posting his prices on his Web site.

With the growing number of uninsured people, the increase in high-deductible insurance plans and big jumps in co-payments, just about everybody is paying more out of pocket for health care nowadays. An estimated 15 percent of adults younger than 65 now pay with their own money medical costs greater than 5 percent of their annual household income, according to the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan research group in Washington.

So the typical person is probably far more motivated to ask how much an M.R.I. or a hip replacement costs. And just as often, people are asking  or should be  “How can I get a better price?”