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I have just been diagnosed with Postrate Cancer with a G score of 3+3=6; T1 and a PSA of 5.3. Having gone through this beautiful site, the treatment options and Don's blog, I have decided that Proton Beam Therapy is the best option for me.
However, I live in the UK and PBT is not available in the country and Insurance does not cover PBT for Postrate Cancer outside the UK.
Can anyone give me the approximate uninsured cost at Linda Loma and National Cancer Centre in South Korea?
That is like asking how long a piece of string is. The reason I say that is because prices for any medical procedure in the US are negotiable and the ultimate agreed price depends on the negotiating power (and/or skill and/or hardship) of the party wanting the therapy.
I investigated the cost of PBT as far as I could about 18 months ago when the South Korean folk approach me to put a link on my site. As I say at TREATMENT CHOICES - PROTON BEAM :
Men who are not insured or whose insurers will still not pay for PBT will discover that it can be a very expensive option with costs being quoted from $150,000 to $225,000 for self-pay patients. Loma Linda is said to be considerably less with tag of less than $70,000 being quoted in one specific case. Men who wish to have PBT but are uninsured might consider the National Cancer Centre in Seoul, Korea An eight-week course of proton treatment there costs $54,000, still a large sum for most people but less than the US centres. This Korean centre began operating in October 2001 and the Proton Therapy Centre opened in March, 2007. To date (January 2010) the Proton Therapy Centre has treated about 550 patients, of whom 115 were PCa patients.
Good luck - I hope you've investigated Active Surveillance thoroughly, bearing in mind what leading pathologist Dr Jonathon Oppenheimer says:
For the vast majority of men with a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer the most important question is not what treatment is needed, but whether any treatment at all is required. Active surveillance is the logical choice for most men (and the families that love them) to make.
