For seniors, estimating their medical costs in advance isusually a shot in the dark.

Of more than 350 seniors age 65 and older, only 41 percent eventry to predict out-of-pocket costs for medical appointments,services and treatments and of those who try, 78 percent get itright at least “sometimes” with more than one third getting itright “most of the time.”

The survey was fielded from April 12-19, 2011 by Extend Health,Inc., which operates the nation’s largest private Medicareexchange.

“From a consumer perspective, health care is different fromalmost any other market in that providers of medical services donot typically provide prices prior to delivering their services,”says Bryce Williams, CEO of Extend Health. “In addition, insurancecompanies – not consumers – usually negotiate prices and paydirectly for medical services. This lack of transparency makes itdifficult for consumers who want or need to know what things willcost in advance so they can prepare themselves financially.”

The questions and detailed results from the survey are asfollows:

Do you ever try to estimate your out-of-pocket medicalexpenses (anything not covered by your health insurance) in advanceof a medical appointment, service, treatment or hospitalstay?

If you answered, "yes" to the previous question, howfrequently are you able to accurately estimate in advance yourout-of-pocket medical expenses for a given medical appointment,service, treatment or hospital stay?

How often do you ask a health care provider (forexample, a physician, hospital, physical therapist, laboratory) howmuch a medical service will cost ahead of time?

Have you ever tried to negotiate a price for a medicalservice with the service provider?