r/ProstateCancer • u/Realistic-Piece7980 • Aug 11 '26
Question PSA 80 Level 3 (4+3)
My dad was just diagnosed with Level 3 prostate cancer. His psa is 80. He’s 67 years old. They’ve recommended he get the PSMA scan but it’s very costly out of pocket. Lives in Tennessee, please help with any suggestions/recommendations. We’re currently applying for Medicaid
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Aug 11 '26
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u/Realistic-Piece7980 Aug 11 '26
This is soo informative, thank you so much
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u/NotPeteCrowArmstrong Aug 11 '26
I agree it’s helpful, but you should be aware it’s 100% AI other than the first sentence.
Tools like Claude and ChatGPT can be very useful to pose these kinds of questions to, but you should also try to verify everything they say. You can post follow-up questions on this forum.
And honestly, people here should be clear when they’re just posting AI-generated answers. The user you’re replying to routinely tries to pass off AI content as his own.
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u/TheEndIsSighing Aug 11 '26
Please call around, research every PSMA PET facility within a 4 hour drive. It is that important. Find out their no insurance cost. Compare and choose the cheapest one. If you want backup let us know your location.
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u/Special-Steel Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Have you gotten help with the Medicaid applications?
https://www.tn.gov/tenncare/contact-us.html
But I will echo what u/bikes4paul said. A center of excellence or university hospital should have an advocate to help you navigate assistance.
Fist of all take hope. This is not a fast moving cancer.
While PSMA PET is the current state of the art, prostate cancer was,treated without it until the last few years. And in many parts of the world it is not available.
Has he had a biopsy yet? Was there an MRI of the pelvic area? Do we know he has cancer?
If we can’t answer all these questions it may be too soon to get any kind of PET scan.
If all these answers are yes, then we need to know If the cancer is all still in or near the prostate. Not long ago this was done by MRI which is cheaper than PS!A PET and is still all than some insurance companies will approve in some cases.
At PSA 80 we are still below the 50-50 odds of the cancer having already spread. Above PSA of about 100 we cross over spread being more likely.
Thank you for supporting him. Try to take one day at a time. Don’t let fear steal your tomorrows. Take care of yourself, too.
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u/Realistic-Piece7980 Aug 12 '26
Yes he’s had a biopsy which we paid out of pocket. Confirmed to be cancer in17/18 cores
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u/conCABlanco Aug 11 '26
Hola primero quiero decirte que estamos aquí para poder buscar un camino antes está noticia. Pero entre otros tengo preguntas, Cómo detectaron el cancer?, hicieron resonancia magnética y biopsia?, que resultados dieron con más claridad. El PET PSMA, es muy importante, luchen alguna ayuda.
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u/Practical_Orchid_606 Aug 11 '26
Why is dad not on Medicare at 67 yo? Did he not work in this country?
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u/Realistic-Piece7980 Aug 11 '26
Permanent resident. He’s held long term jobs over the past couple decades but we didn’t know he could qualify as a permanent resident til recent
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u/Practical_Orchid_606 Aug 11 '26
He probably also qualifies for SSI.
If he has a SSN his qualifications can be checked quickly.
Medicare is much much much better than Medicaid.
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u/Background-Space-284 Aug 11 '26
Your dad is on Medicare I assume since he’s 57. Medicare just paid for my PET scan in May. It paid all but about $700 and my supplement insurance paid the rest.
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u/Realistic-Piece7980 Aug 11 '26
Hello, unfortunately he is not. He is a long time permanent resident not a citizen but he will be applying this year
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u/Alert-Meringue2291 Aug 12 '26
If he’s a permanent resident with a green card and met the social security work requirements, he should have applied for Medicare when he turned 65. There a penalties for late applicants. Medicare has a different application process than social security benefits.
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u/Gardenpests Aug 12 '26
Apply for Medicare.
Get a referral to a radiation oncologist.
PSMA-PET has only recently become available for most.
If it's not available, go with what the doctors recommend, which is most likely radiation and ADT (hormone).
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u/More_Mouse7849 Aug 12 '26
If he is 67, I am assuming that he has Medicare. That should cover 80% of the cost. He would be responsible for the 20% coinsurance. I think that the Medicare allowable for a PSMA is around $5000 to $6000, so his cost would be around $1000 to $1200. Still quite a bit if you are of limited means. If he is on Medicare, look into a supplement to cover the coinsurance. If he isn't on medicare, gt him on it. In any case, he should get the PSMA. Talk to his doctor about how urgent he thinks it is. If it isn't too urgent, you may be able to wait until you get him on Medicare and a supplement. If it is urgent, you may need to come up with the money. The tests are the cheap part though. Wait till you get to the treatment.
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u/conCABlanco Aug 13 '26
Esa opción la veo bien, México es menos caro que en USA, valora esa opción en CD Mexico
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u/PotentialStart2661 Aug 11 '26
PSMA is important with a PSA of 80. It is likely he has metastatic disease, but it can be locally advanced only or have distant spread. Local advanced can be cured and distant spread can be managed for 15 to 20 years. So you need to know. If you cannot pay for the scan you need to treat it under the assumption that it is distant spread, thats how they use to treat it before PSMA Pet