Anyone have luck using DAN World Australia insurance?

[fluff_astrid]

Has anyone had success contacting/claiming through DAN Word insurance Australia (or even just generally, DAN World Asia Pacific)? Because I’m struggling to contact them at all/find contact info, and am in the middle of a dive injury event and claims situation.

Some context: Before I lived in Australia, I lived in the US, where I held DAN insurance. My US DAN insurance was spectacular — I only really needed them once for a suspected case of DCS and their emergency hotline + reimbursement process was easy & prompt. I also used their non emergency line several times over the years. So I have high expectations of DAN.

Fast forward to now — I live in Australia and have held DAN World Asia Pacific Australia insurance for the past 2 years, thankfully not needing it, until now. I experienced a middle ear barotrauma diving in Hawaii. So, my first order of business was to call DAN. First, I looked at my card, which only shows the emergency hotline. I log into my account to find a number for the non-emergency line, thought I found it, but when I called they told me that it’s the number that covers DAN Word ~except~ for Asia Pacific. No one could tell me what the AP number is and I couldn't find it anywhere, so I gave up and called the emergency hotline. I simply wanted to know what my options were as I was going to elevation in a few days time. The person on the emergency line helped gave me some good advice and suggested I see a doctor.

I tried calling/finding an email for DAN World AP Australia to ensure they’d cover my trip to a local US based doctor. Still not able to get a number specific to Australia, and the website kept trying to point me to the general US-based customer service number. They were helpful and sent emails to all the AP aliases (like “claimsap” and “membershipap”) with me CC’ed. We’re 6 days out from the incident and I still have not heard from any of them. I can’t even find my insurance details on my member portal, I had to go through my old confirmation email from DAN from 2 years ago, where the product disclosure statement was attached. Whether that’s still current or not, remains to be seen, but it provides no actual info about who to contact, just what may or may not be covered.

I ended up going to the doctor just because I didn’t want to wait, and now just trying to understand if I can claim that cost or not. This is feeling ridiculous.

Thanks!

 

[rvojr]

Did you ever get a hold of them? Could you provide an update if you don't mind? One of the few negative comments I have heard about DAN.

 

[fluff_astrid]

Hey sorry. So I ended up going to the doctor because I couldn’t get ahold of DAN World AP division. Once I was back in Australia I had to send an email to get the amount I paid refunded (to claimsap). It was eventually done but took 2 months and was handled entirely over email (I still could not reach someone on the phone). I feel like they may only be staffed by one or two people.

I still am unclear what to do if you have a medical advice question outside of regional business hours though. In my case I was in a location where it wasn’t possible for me to call during Australia business hours, and got some flak from the US line for calling (but it was during US business hours). So that remains unresolved, though it’s been about 6 months so maybe it’s improved?

 

[astr0b0y]

That’s pretty terrible. I asked my local dive shop recently about DAN insurance here and their opinion was that it would not cover anything more than we get from Medicare (trip to a chamber etc. is covered) and that beyond that, standard health insurance to cover barotrauma and the like. However, unless you hold Aus citizenship, Medicare cover isn’t available to you.

 

[fluff_astrid]

That’s pretty terrible. I asked my local dive shop recently about DAN insurance here and their opinion was that it would not cover anything more than we get from Medicare (trip to a chamber etc. is covered) and that beyond that, standard health insurance to cover barotrauma and the like. However, unless you hold Aus citizenship, Medicare cover isn’t available to you.

So, the dive shop is only half right. I used to live in the US and had US DAN. In the US, DAN covers dive accidents both domestically and worldwide, you just have to go through your primary health insurance first (if you have it) and what they don’t cover is covered by DAN. That’s why DAN is such a good deal for US citizens.

In Australia and NZ, it’s a bit different. DAN insurance here only covers international dive accidents, but not domestic. That’s because they expect Medicare to cover you domestically. Medicare cannot cover your international dive treatment so if you get stuck needing to use a chamber in, say, the US, you do need some kind of insurance to cover that cost or you’ll pay it out of pocket. However relying on Medicare for domestic dive accidents does kind of stink, one because Medicare doesn’t cover non PR/citizens, and two because, unless the dive accident is a true ER visit emergency, Medicare covers at best a small portion of treatment. For example if you had a mild ear barotrauma like I had here and needed to see an ENT here in Australia, Medicare only covers about $70 of the often $200+ cost.

So I’d say: DAN World insurance is good for coverage of true diving emergencies internationally (in my case I was trying to use them for a non-emergency issue so that might have been better if I had a true emergency requiring a chamber, etc) so I’d get it if you’re planning on traveling. But yeah, if your goal is to dive mainly in Australia, it’s not really helpful.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Haven't heard anything good about DAN Australia/AP since DAN HQ bought it back about three years ago - it seems to have gone to shite since then...

 

[astr0b0y]

Do we have any other options with as specific a focus as DAN?