Get DAN or some other dive insurance. Many health insurance policies do not cover diving related treatments.
Other considerations.
NOTE, check coverages as they can and do vary. Dive insurance can include the following:
Pay 100% of the cost of a chamber ride with no deductible.
Pay cost difference of those discount airline tickets and full fare because you could not fly home as originally scheduled because you were restricted from flying for x number of days following your chamber ride.
Helicopter trip to the chamber.
Air ambulance to evacuate you to the USA at low altitude if medically necessary.
Pay other ancillary expenses necessitated because of your dive injury not directly related to the medical treatment.
Fly a family member or S/O to your bedside while you spend an extended time in hospital overseas due to dive related injury.
Now add to that this.
Would you go to the doctor and pay a deductible for a very vague discomfort? I mean, if you were talking to someone you would not even notice it, discomfort (cant even call it pain at this point) in your ankle which started a day after a single dive for 19 minutes (surface to surface) to 110 feet? Keep in mind, a wave knocked you down when you were making your beach entry.
I would not have gone to the emergency room and seen a doctor knowing I had to shell out for a deductible for such a minor pain. But I had DAN, so I gave them a call (ok, so it was on the 2nd day and the discomfort was a little more, but still not much), and they said go. Yep, I was bent. Took a total over the next week of three two hour rides in the chamber at $400.00 per hour. My expense, zero.
Look over the DAN and other dive insurances and see exactly what they cover. I will wager your medical insurance even if they cover the actual chamber ride, will not cover all the other expenses you may incur in a dive injury, particularly one that occurs away from home.
Keep in mind you dont just go to the chamber and then go fly home, or even drive home if you live at much elevation. You may have to stay at a low elevation or avoid flying for some time after a dive injury. The husband of a dive partner of mine spent two weeks in a seaside motel after getting bent. They lived above 2,000 feet elevation and every time he tried to go home, his symptoms returned. I know in my own experience, I drove to 1,400 feet elevation 9 days after my chamber ride (but 2 days after a dive). I had been symptom free for 9 days. But when I arrived at 1,400 feet elevation, I was hurting, and I mean, get your attention hurting. I turned the car around and went for two more rides in the chamber.
Look at DAN, it is cheap. You can pick the level of coverage you want. The most expensive package they have is less than $100.00 per year for an individual.
