Remember that X-ray you had a month or two ago? Any idea how much it cost?

Or how about that gall bladder your uncle had taken out. Did he ever see the price tag?

Then there's that bum knee you're going to have to have scoped one of these days. Care to ballpark the cost of that?

If your answers to the above are no, no and I have no idea, you're not alone – in the dizzying world of health care, most patients couldn't begin to say how much they (or their insurance companies) pay for this, that or the other hospital procedure.

Until now.

"My hope is that when people start looking at this, some questions will be asked," said Alan Prysunka, director of the Maine Health Data Organization.

Welcome to the state agency's new HealthCost Web site , which puts you a mouse click or two away from information that not too long ago would have been virtually inaccessible to the typical health-care consumer.

We're talking an array of hospital procedures ranging from a chest X-ray to a bronchoscopy.

We're talking price comparisons that show which hospitals and other medical facilities charge the most, which charge the least and which fall somewhere in between.

We're talking what various insurance plans pay for each operation or diagnostic test, as well as what you can expect to pay if you're one of the estimated 118,000 (and counting) Mainers who don't have health insurance.

But mostly, we're talking numbers that can make your head spin.

Take your average colonoscopy (please).

If you have Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield HMO coverage, you can get yourself scoped down under for an "estimated combined payment" (insurance, co-payment and any secondary coverage) of $537 at Mercy Hospital in Portland.

But take your colon to St. Andrews Hospital and Health Care Center in Boothbay Harbor and the payments for the same procedure will run an estimated $3,151.

No insurance? Take a deep breath.

At Mercy, your colonoscopy will cost you $1,130 – more than twice the total payment for an insured patient. And if you really want to squirm, get the job done at the Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital in Greenville, where your bill will be a whopping $4,895.

Remember Uncle Charlie's gall bladder?

If he has Anthem HMO, Maine Medical Center in Portland will remove it for $5,479.

Send him up to Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta, however, and his payments will total an estimated $14,799 – almost three times as much.

Uncle Charlie lost his Anthem HMO when the mill shut down? Uh-oh. That gall bladder is going to cost him $7,663 at Maine Med ($2,184 more than if he had insurance) or a gut-wrenching $17,912 at Miles Memorial ($3,113 more than if he had an Anthem card.)

The longer you look at the Web site, the more the dollar signs give way to question marks.

Why should a woman with no insurance have to pay $350 for a mammogram at Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, while a woman with an Aetna Preferred Provider Organization plan pays just $91 at Pen Bay Women's Imaging Specialists in Rockport?

Or where does St. Andrews in Boothbay Harbor get off charging $363 for an uninsured wrist X-ray, when a patient with Anthem HMO coverage can get the same picture taken for just $60 at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford? As Prysunka noted, "This is complicated stuff when you get into procedures, coding, et cetera, et cetera."

But it basically goes like this: If you have insurance, your carrier negotiates a deal with the hospital or other provider based on the volume of patients the insurance company sends that hospital's way.

If you don't have insurance, you're on your own – although Prysunka said it still makes sense to inquire about discounts and, when all else fails,...