Diving and flying

[Sbiriguda]

I think it's a bit impolite to insult entire countries in an international forum.

Being a native speaker of Italian myself I think I understand what he really meant with "paesi civili" "civil countries". That would be "civil law countries" (say France, Italy, Spain, etc. etc. where health is public) vs "common law" countries like the USA (where health is private) and the UK (partially private). Which is quite incorrect anyway here because that distinction refers to the law system, not to the health system. Switzerland is a country of civil law like Italy but with a private health system like the USA. In Switzerland if you come back from Egypt with the bends the hospital will charge you back everything unless you have an insurance, more or less like in the US, and that applies both to Swiss nationals and foreigners who get a medical treatment in Switzerland

 

[ginti]

double post

 

[ginti]

Haha LOL my mom would not endorse that, I still remember what used to happen if I wanted to sleep late in the morning back when I had to go school

The thing is that a "pigra" person, in Italian ("pigro" is the literal translation of lazy), is a person who enjoys a lot "relaxing", "doing nothing", etc.

Now, if you are a smart person, but you are "pigro", you will optimize your time at work, and you may even become super-efficient - so to have more time to relax . To the extreme, if you like your job, you may even a hard worker (because you like it) and "pigro" at the same time; in the latter case, you may save a lot of time by doing only few housework (the ones really needed for surviving, like I do).

I think in English "lazy" is more something like "a person who doesn't want to work, period". To be honest, I know many people who associate this concept to the word "pigro" even in Italy, and I bet your mother is one of these - but I don't, I use it as @Angelo Farina does.

About the word "civil", to be honest, I associate a bit of negativity to it. But this negative connotation can be due to the fact that I am from the south, while @Angelo Farina I think is more from the north, and we may use some words with slightly different meaning. Also, I have to admit that for us (European in general, at least on my experience) it is a bit weird that in the US there is not any free public health system... it is something so normal for us, that we give it for granted, and not having it is just something too much unusual for us.

 

[tursiops]

The thing is that a "pigra" person, in Italian ("pigro" is the literal translation of lazy), is a person who enjoys a lot "relaxing", "doing nothing", etc.

Now, if you are a smart person, but you are "pigro", you will optimize your time at work, and you may even become super-efficient. To the extreme, if you like your job, you may even a hard worker (because you like it) and "pigro" at the same time; in the latter case, you may save a lot of time by doing only few housework (the one really needed for surviving, like in my case )

I think in English "lazy" is more something like "a person who doesn't want to work, period".

About the word "civil", to be honest, I associate a bit of negativity to it. But this negative connotation can be due to the fact that I am from the south, while @Angelo Farina I think is more from the north, and we may use some words with slightly different meaning. Also, I have to admit that for us (European in general, at least on my experience) it is a bit weird that in the US there is not any free public health system... it is something so normal for us, that we give it for granted, and not having it is just something too much unusual for us.

Having lived in Italy (Liguria) for four years, this is an interesting discussion, but misses the point. It is one thing to have a free public health system, it is quite another to have DAN cover your local costs where you are diving, if that is where you are treated, and to cover your transportation to the treatment, wherever it is. Medivac flights are rather expensive, and your public heath system does not cover those in other countries, does it?

 

[lexvil]

Looking

Being a native speaker of Italian myself I think I understand what he really meant with "paesi civili" "civil countries". That would be "civil law countries" (say France, Italy, Spain, etc. etc. where health is public) vs "common law" countries like the USA (where health is private) and the UK (partially private). Which is quite incorrect anyway here because that distinction refers to the law system, not to the health system. Switzerland is a country of civil law like Italy but with a private health system like the USA. In Switzerland if you come back from Egypt with the bends the hospital will charge you back everything unless you have an insurance, more or less like in the US, and that applies both to Swiss nationals and foreigners who get a medical treatment in Switzerland

around the US lately, I think AF got it right the first time.

 

[ginti]

Having lived in Italy (Liguria) for four years, this is an interesting discussion, but misses the point. It is one thing to have a free public health system, it is quite another to have DAN cover your local costs where you are diving, if that is where you are treated, and to cover your transportation to the treatment, wherever it is. Medivac flights are rather expensive, and your public heath system does not cover those in other countries, does it?

Yes, I get what you mean. Let's put it this way: if you are a European citizen, and you have an accident inside the EU, there shouldn't be any problem (at least in theory). If you have an accident outside the EU, and there are no agreements between your home country (or the EU) and the country where you have the accident, then you need DAN. In this case, I am not sure whether DAN will cover you if you break their recommendation, which are indeed very conservative (link below). Frankly speaking, they are just recommendations, so I assume they will pay you except if you did something VERY stupid... this is what @Angelo Farina said, why not to trust him?

NOTE: I think that medivac flight are for free in Italy, not sure in the rest of EU... but I should double-check...

DAN Europe recommendations:
DAN Europe - Flying after Diving

 

[Angelo Farina]

Having lived in Italy (Liguria) for four years, this is an interesting discussion, but misses the point. It is one thing to have a free public health system, it is quite another to have DAN cover your local costs where you are diving, if that is where you are treated, and to cover your transportation to the treatment, wherever it is. Medivac flights are rather expensive, and your public heath system does not cover those in other countries, does it?

There is a big distinction based on the purpose of travel. If an Italian is abroad for work or for study, our health system covers all sanitary expenses, including transportations. You have to anticipate the expenses, and you are refunded by the Italian state when back in Italy.
If instead you are a tourist, you need to provide for your own health insurance while traveling abroad. That is where DAN comes in, very useful and powerful!
More info (in Italian) here: Rimborso spese sanitarie sostenute all'estero

 

[boulderjohn]

I'll say it again. DAN US does not care how deep you go or if you get right on an airplane after diving; they will cover you. The only restriction is that you must be a recreational diver....professionals and science research are OK.
Don't guess; check with DAN.

I believe that depends upon the plan you choose. The DAN plan I use has no limitations, but I believe there is a basic plan that limits you to recreational depths (40 meters). It is hard to know for sure. DAN America has several plans, and they are limited in which they can offer in your area depending upon state laws. If you go online and try to look at the plans, they ask you what state you are in and only show you what's available in your state.

 

[Edward3c]

Medivac flights are rather expensive, and your public heath system does not cover those in other countries, does it?

In the U.K. if I had an incident diving or on the road; transportation, by any mode, is covered by my local NHS. I’ve audited how the Department of Transport recover their costs from the health service.

 

[tursiops]

I believe that depends upon the plan you choose. The DAN plan I use has no limitations, but I believe there is a basic plan that limits you to recreational depths (40 meters). It is hard to know for sure. DAN America has several plans, and they are limited in which they can offer in your area depending upon state laws. If you go online and try to look at the plans, they ask you what state you are in and only show you what's available in your state.

I looked at the handbook (not state-specific) for the cheapest plan and it showed no depth limitations that I could find.