No one on SB has an opinion on this? lol...Is this a first?
Hey, it's a weekend.
Many are on weekend dive outings and/or other interests. I have a boring life tho, and have just done some other comparisons - so I'll give it a shot. Please use this as an outline only tho; double check my work & figures.
I am canadian, and I have DAN, mainly because it was the only one I knew about when I first signed up for it when I was a new diver.
You are in BC...I have heard our normal medical coverage covers one chamber ride a year. So you don't need DAN or DiveAssure, not really...unless you are travelling. In which case, you want the one that is more internationally recognized I guess. But I have DAN and most other divers in my area that I know have DAN. It seems to be the more popular choice (here, at least), for some reason.
I think the two main reasons that some Canadians have DAN Dive Insurance are...
- For coverage outside of Canada and your national waters, i.e. San Juan Islands Puget Sound, Thousand Islands St Lawrence, etc along our mutual border plus any international dive trips;
- And DAN may be the only dive insurance you can buy; Dive Assure will not sell to Canadians or residents of many US states.
But I'd already worked up a comparison before I got that far so I'll still post it below.
Does anyone happen to know what kind of coverage Ontarians have through the provincial health care system? I won't be travelling out of the province anytime soon (baby is due in a couple of weeks
) and don't want to waste my money if I am already covered.
I have no idea. I have heard that you have Socialized Medicine that covers diving accidents and sickness in your national waters, but I am not at all educated on this. I think that would be a question for your local Ontario forum. I will say
do not leave the country and dive without DAN or similar dive insurance. It's too cheap to have, too painful and expensive not to have. I've seen six divers evacuated by ambulance - two of whom probly wouldn't have survived if they hadn't had DAN instantly ready to fly them to Florida. Some of them were my age, some of them your generation.
Okay, since the question was posted in the big ol' Basic Scuba forum and not a Canadian forum, even tho you don't have much choice - there is my comparison based on information from these sites....
BTW, even if you don't get DAN dive insurance, it might be a good idea to still join as a member @ $29/year, get the magazine and the TravelAssist benefits - and even if you don't, still call DAN's phone numbers for consultations, emergency or not...
well I am getting a little better at the word processor spread sheets.
