Korea is hoping that international travel (it can take 24 hours door-to-door from New York to Seoul) is a desirable element that will attract patients to the peninsula. The arrangement might have been the right fit for someone like Curtis Poling, who was too young for Medicare, when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer two years ago. Poling had successful treatment at Loma Linda University Medical Center but was left with a $160,000 tab and a fight with his insurance company. (Loma Linda declined to give DOTmed News the price range for their treatment.) Poling eventually won and got his insurance to cover it but he now works as an advisor for KMI, the Korean medical tourism marketing firm hired by KTO. He said he would have taken the Korea option if it had been available at the time.
"At 53, I knew I had to be treated sooner not later," said Poling, who also runs a window insulation firm in Georgia. "My health is great with no side effects and proton beam therapy was an excellent choice for me." But he spent $10,000 to live in California during treatment. "I had to stay away from home for over two months and was bored. I think Korea is an alluring site, especially with the generosity and hospitality of the Korean people. It's great for those seeking proton beam options for the un- or under-insured."
Curtis Poling, a prostate cancer patient
who is too young for Medicare
thinks Korea is a good option
for patients who have to pay
out of pocket for proton therapy
Korea Built It; But Will They Come?
South Korea has national health insurance that covers up to 70 percent of medical services, but proton beam therapy, which uses a three-story particle accelerator and moving gantries to precisely control radiation exposure, is not covered. Korea opened its National Cancer Center in the Ilsan district northwest of central Seoul in 2001 with the proton center completed in 2007. The proton facility, equipped by IBA of Belgium, includes two rotating gantries and one fixed beam room. An additional room is in the planning stages.
The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be nearly 218,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. in 2010 and more than 32,000 deaths. Korea is betting that U.S. proton centers are or soon will be at capacity and that they can pick up some spillover even as proton facilities are being added stateside. In addition to Loma Linda University Medical Center, the currently operational U.S. sites include the University of Florida, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University, Procure in Oklahoma City, and Massachusetts General Hospital. An eighth U.S. proton therapy center is scheduled to open at Hampton University in Virginia this year. Also as reported in DOTmed News, Scripps Health will soon break ground on a center in San Diego; and Procure is developing several sites.
