is DAN insurance worth it?

[theduckguru]

Since you have not included where you dive and the depths involved, how could anyone reasonably tell you not to buy insurance.

 

[drbill]

Although deeper diving may indeed be an added risk factor, even diving shallow can incur problems if one ascends too rapidly though a higher pressure gradient. A diver only doing one dive trip a year may be more prone to making a mistake since it is not a routine part of your life.

I've done thousands of dives in my life and have carried DAN insurance during almost all of them (only the earliest dives in the 60s and 70s were not with coverage). Personally, I wouldn't dive without the coverage. Fortunately I haven't needed DAN assistance... yet!

 

[song]

Insurance of any type is paying for something that you hope you never have to use. It's definitely a gamble. Ask yourself if you could afford to lose that gamble. If you gave up insurance on your home how would you do if a tornado/fire/flood wiped out everything? That's how I feel about DAN and my health (but at least a home and many possessions could some day be replaced, even with financial difficulty)

 

[ivakdiver]

YES! It is worth it.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This diver got their money's worth after a fall on the dive platform..

 

[supergaijin]

Understand that even a a minimum ride in the chamber will be somewhere around $10 000- if you're seriously bent the cost only goes one way from there. Throw in the evacuation costs; which potentially involves chartering a plane depending on the distance to the pot.

Have a look closely at you travel insurance. Many if not most will not cover stupid activities like bungy-jumping, skydiving and scuba activities. Even if it does, the insurance company pays people good money to get themselves out of having to pay claims. Just look at all the sob-stories about insurance companies cheating pensioners who signed up for insurance (with an agent) who failed to mention something in the coverage buried under 7 pages of legalish.

DAN or another diving specific insurance company is a good thing, unless you can afford to pay.

 

[flots am]

I've had my DAN insurance for several years, and I like the idea of supporting our industry, but I usually only get to go on a scuba trip about once a year, which means the 1 year membership fee really only gets applied to one trip - for my wife and I that's $60 to $80 on top of each trip. I'm just wondering what other people's opinions are. Do you think it's worth it?

That depends on whether or not you want to die or risk permanent disability.

DAN is more than just insurance. It's an assurance for the chamber operator that he'll be paid for his services, and someone to arrange and coordinate whatever transportation/evacuation is needed.

I also have Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which AFAIK, covers recompression for SCUBA injuries, however I can pretty much guarantee that nobody in vacation-land is going to be willing to take care of me, then bill some huge insurance company and hope that some money comes back.

flots.

 

[H2O Gal]

DumpsterDiver--I have only one thing to say to you:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kryssa]

It's worth it for the piece of mind. Last year, we only dove domestically (trip to HI and Channels Islands off the coast of CA.) I didn't consider for a moment not keeping DAN insurance. We also have the equipment insurance- worth it to us for the piece of mind.

 

[Shasta_man]

Their insurance isn't worth a cent until you need it.