DAN (Divers Alert Network) Membership and Insurance

[DivemasterDennis]

Seriously, CALL DAN. They will answer all your questions. I too am a long time member and my wife and I carry their most comprehensive coverage. It's a good thing, its not a racket. In addition to insurance, you receive their magazine (excellent) and access to information sources when you have medical questions. Also, you DAN Membership supports lots of good programs for marine environmental issues, including project AWARE. I urge you to join.
DivemasterDennis

 

[muzikbiz22]

As a fellow Canadian, you may decide to visit Cuba. American based insurance companies cannot do business in Cuba. The DAN travel assist remains in force for evacuation because of how it is managed / underwritten, but the medical insurance does not. They are underwritten differently. I carry DAN insurance, but added additional supplemental for a Cuba trip for this reason.

This issue is not particular to DAN. If you plan a Cuba trip, double check coverage.

Interesting you mention dive travel to Cuba. I got to thinking about this, just a couple of weeks ago, as I want to go there and dive in the next year or 2. Can you elaborate on a little more ? Experience there ? I'm DAN Preferred and American, but something tells me I may need "something else".

 

[tdtaylor]

I have the most full DAN coverage for accidental, extended to my family SCUBA divers in a Family Plan. Wouldn't go diving without it. In the Western hemisphere, all the locations and live-a-boards I have been on inquire before hand about DAN coverage- they know how to handle a situation and keep you in the coverage.

Now, the travel insurance is different. For better or worse, they farm it out to a Wisconsin outfit, who doesn't know the first thing about diving. I was caught in Sandy in Nassau, and it took 48 pages of documentation and numerous rounds of communication to make it clear that sitting at a dock is not the same as diving the Exuma islands. Sorry, 115 mph winds on a boat lashed with 23 lines to the dock for two and a half days is not the same as diving a beautiful site. And fortunately, as my wife would tell you , I am anal, and had all the documentation, and the live-a-baord group was fabulous in helping out.

In the end I prevailed and was satisfied, but the effort on my part was considerable, mostly due to the secondary insurers unfamiliarity with our sport. BUT I DID EXPECT MORE FROM DAN.

 

[TMHeimer]

We have "emergency medical" coverage when we are in the States, and extend it for our snowbird time, which is usually 3 months. I do believe that any emergency is covered. We have used the coverage a few times, including one hospital visit (of 4 HOURS) last year which totalled about $6K. I would ASSUME a DCS hit and chamber ride would be covered, as this is definately an emergency--ei. not a "pre-existing" condition. This is why I have never taken out any separate personal dive insurance, including DAN, though I've of course heard that DAN is a great outfit. I would think any dive accident within Canada would be covered due to our fantastic socialized medicine which we hardly pay any taxes at all for..... Anyway, something to look into.

 

[theduckguru]

Interesting you mention dive travel to Cuba. I got to thinking about this, just a couple of weeks ago, as I want to go there and dive in the next year or 2. Can you elaborate on a little more ? Experience there ? I'm DAN Preferred and American, but something tells me I may need "something else".

In the next year or 2, it may no longer be an issue. They say there is oil under tHem there Cuba waters and normalization might be coming sooner than later.

 

[KeithG]

We book our insurance through Our travel agent Squba holidays in London. I think it is provided by rbc? it is a single package that covers everything related to our scuba travel vacation.

When we first started diving the DAN coverage was very poor and costly compared to the insurance we obtained locally here in Ontario. We have not compared lately, so things may have changed. My impression is that DAN has greatly improved over the years.

Our coverage includes all sorts of trip cancellation stuff as well as diving related stuff like evac and chamber rides. We have never had any issue with any of the live aboards that ask divers about their DAN coverage.

We have used it several times to cover weather issues ($700 water taxi for 1 day late arriving in Belize for a live aboard, getting stuck for 3 days in a snow storm in Newark on the way home from Bonaire) and have never had any issue with claims.

So there are options other than DAN.

I believe the key is to ensure you have a single policy that covers everything. Then there is no issue about who covers what if something happens.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I read through the DAN handbook, which explains most of the differences. I am still a bit concerned though. It says that if an emergency were to happen, you have to call DAN first, they will then call a doctor to see you, then once the doctor decides you need help, then they order the helicopter/ambulance to send you to the hospital or chamber. Then within 20 days, you need to file a claim. So im assuming you pay for everything and then they reimburse you? Seems like a really lengthy process, especially if you get bent on the boat and a doctor is an hour away to see you. Im always a bit skeptical for insurance, but it seems to me that it would make sense to get the necessary medical attention first and then submit a claim to DAN. Is it just me, or does the whole process of getting admitted seem rather long?

If you get bent, the fastest way for you to get on your way to a chamber is going to be to contact DAN. You will be out of pocket nothing--DAN will handle transportation and treatment costs, which in many places will require cash up front.

Do you travel with tens of thousands of dollars in cash? Were you planning on flipping open the Yellow Pages or Google to find a chamber and hyperbaric physician for you, as well as a medivac flight (necessary in many locations - chambers are increasingly rare even in the US)? If not, your concerns don't make much sense. Just get Master or better DAN insurance, and then cease worrying about what happens in terms of logistics and costs if you have a diving emergence -- though even DAN can't fix dead or paralyzed.

 

[gcarter]

We book our insurance through Our travel agent Squba holidays in London. I think it is provided by rbc? it is a single package that covers everything related to our scuba travel vacation.

When we first started diving the DAN coverage was very poor and costly compared to the insurance we obtained locally here in Ontario. We have not compared lately, so things may have changed. My impression is that DAN has greatly improved over the years.

Our coverage includes all sorts of trip cancellation stuff as well as diving related stuff like evac and chamber rides. We have never had any issue with any of the live aboards that ask divers about their DAN coverage.

We have used it several times to cover weather issues ($700 water taxi for 1 day late arriving in Belize for a live aboard, getting stuck for 3 days in a snow storm in Newark on the way home from Bonaire) and have never had any issue with claims.

So there are options other than DAN.

I believe the key is to ensure you have a single policy that covers everything. Then there is no issue about who covers what if something happens.

I'm pretty sure it was the RBC insurance I had when I went to Cuba.

 

[Quero]

You might ask SB member themagni, who is Canadian, about his incident for which he didn't have DAN insurance. I guess he paid by MasterCard, maxing out his credit limit, and eventually got reimbursed by his Canadian insurance company. It's my understanding that he has decided that DAN insurance is going to be a feature of any future dive trip he takes.

 

[farsidefan1]

A few years ago I got bent in Cozumel. I had diveassure, the platinum plan I think (wife keeps track of that stuff). After a night dive I was in significant pain. I called DAN with questions even though I was not a member and they answered my questions. I was directed to go out to the main drag, grab a taxi and give him an address (the chamber). At the chamber they had been called and were waiting for me. I was in the chamber within minutes. The chamber doctor took my diveassure information and asked for no more money however when I was told I needed to stay in the hospital for the day I ran into a different administrator. The doc there didn't know anything about diveassue so I had to pay in cash (not a lot of money, maybe $200 or less for private room) to stay till my next chamber ride. I sent diveassure the receipt from the hospital (Dr. Piccolo took care of the billing for the chamber treatment and his followup visits) and I was reimbursed within a couple of weeks.
Diveassure is primary, not secondary insurance (DAN is secondary). The difference is primary insurance gets the bill and pays immediately. Secondary insurance waits till your primary coverage pays (or not) then fills in the blanks. A somewhat longer procedure but effective nonetheless. What impressed me was how helpful DAN was even though I was not a member at the time. And I really needed someone to tell me what the hell was going on. This was after all late at night in Mexico, I was by myself and in trouble. I was very worried but the result was that my primary insurance company sent me a check for $7,000 a month later even though I had paid absolutely nothing (except for the hospital which was reimbursed in full by diveassure). So sad, sigh. I sent the check back. Not fair to accept payment that had already been paid. Anyway, that is the difference between primary and secondary coverage. Both work. I still keep diveassure because I like the process but it is much more expensive. Also now I give money to DAN because they are so damn decent and I want to support them.