Get your DAN on!!

[outofofficebrb]

@michael-fisch in the US, you have to buy a DAN membership (not for profit) in order to buy the dive accident insurance. Primary vs secondary isn’t a dealbreaker for me, and yes, I am aware of how it works even as it pertains to possible reimbursement. I don’t know if it is marketing but I get the sense that DAN is still the largest player here and maybe, just maybe, that recognition in the industry might help should something arise, even in a chamber. I do almost all vacation diving and I do have my own medical health insurance but purchase travel medical to supplement what I get on my dive travel insurance (Dive Assure) which also comes with dive accident insurance on top of my DAN dive accident insurance. (am I worst case scenario enough for anyone? )

Unfortunately, Aqua Med is not an option for those living outside of the EU, it seems. It looks like a great alternative for you.

I also take experiences and feedback from someone who has made a claim with more weight. It is often then do you know just how good or bad something is and again, I don’t go for “good value” here. While I’ve not had to make a dive accident claim, I did have to make a claim with Dive Assure and my credit card company on the travel side (easy) and have a few friends who had to use and claim with DAN. One had ear issues that resulted in ruptured eardrum (infection ) a few times to the same person and the other was an ear infection and pneumonia (which was first, who knows) while diving which ended up in a hospitalization for 2-3 weeks overseas plus transport home and months of health care and bills after returning home.

Again, while I’ve not had to make a claim for a dive accident and I’m happy about it, everyone will have to make their own risk assessment vs benefit. If it works for someone to go without it, fine, but I am not okay with someone trying to dissuade someone else from carrying dive accident insurance because it’s not good value.

In this case, I agree with the OP. Just have something and double check the fine print on what that something is.

 

[tursiops]

I had a group in Bonaire 11 years ago, and one new-diver-lady had a DCS event on a Buddy-Dive boat dive (it turned out she had an unknown PFO). She presented some paralysis of her hands, and was non-responsive. The boat crew was terrific with getting O2 to her, and teh boat back to the dock, where the ambulance was already waiting. As the EMTs were talking to her (she became responsive after a few minutes of the O2 during the ride back) I ran and got her travel info form that had emergency-contact info and her DAN number. I handed a copy to the EMTs as they were loading her into the ambulance to go for a chamber ride. They were astonished, thanked me, and said that was all they needed....

 

[pjhansman]

As Pete has proved, there's a lot more that can happen to you on a dive trip than a DCS hit. A couple years back I almost lost my favorite dive buddy to Immersion Pulmonary Edema on Santa Rosa Wall in Cozumel. Dan covered 100% of the bill for the ambulance, 2 days in ICU, several days in the hospital, and specialist care. I can and will buy DAN insurance (as long as they'll cover me) for the rest of my diving days, and it still won't cost what that single event cost.

 

[ibj40]

I've also held DAN insurance since the day I received my original certification back in the mid 80's. Never had to use it yet, but as pointed out above you never know.

I am sure that my primary health insurance company will cover some of the expense, should I have a dive emergency; however if that were to happen, I'm not sure that I can afford the time to explain to a generalist on an 800 customer service number what is wrong with me, whereas that same call to DAN reaches a trained professional.

 

[pauldw]

I signed up a few months ago just to be supportive of the mission (although the one time we did contact them about a medical issue, a few years ago, we didn't get a response, but I hear they're usually better than that), without getting insurance because I'm mostly a local diver, and found the magazine to be quite good and probably worth the money all by itself. That said, I think DAN would probably get more members if it did some almost free advertising by tossing a tank sticker into the envelope it sends people's membership card in.

 

[flyboy08]

$135 a year for the wife and I is a no brainer! And we also have a Cadillac health provider through my company....as OOO points out, a simple injury can bankrupt many in a NY second.

$135....an evening out is what that amounts too!

 

[Griffo]

We walked out of the Coz hospital with a $0 bill thanks to DAN insurance. From memory the bill would have been something like $5k USD and that was for an overnight on oxygen and no chamber ride.
That's more than we've spent on DAN insurance in a decade. The couple of hundred a year in insurance is trivial compared to other diving costs. Heck I just spent $250 on a bunch of diving consumables.

A lot of our diving is in remote areas, no way I'd be diving without someone willing to foot the bill for a chopper ride to a chamber.

 

[tursiops]

This is where someone comes on and posts, "I don't see what everybody is so worried about. I've been diving for 20 years and have never had -- nor seen -- a case of DCS." Don't you just love the trust people have in their own personal experience?

 

[Esprise Me]

This is where someone comes on and posts, "I don't see what everybody is so worried about. I've been diving for 20 years and have never had -- nor seen -- a case of DCS." Don't you just love the trust people have in their own personal experience?

It really misses the point, doesn't it?

The fact that DCS is so rare is part of what makes dive insurance such a good idea. The other part is that, when it does happen, it's usually catastrophically expensive.

General all-purpose health insurance is a tough nut to crack unless you make it mandatory, as we've seen in the U.S. Everyone uses healthcare, some of us quite a lot, so it can't be cheap. Because it can't be cheap, healthy people often skip it, which makes it more expensive, which makes more people inclined to opt out. There are other factors (profiteering drug companies, etc.) but the bottom line is that non-mandatory insurance that everyone will use enough to make it individually worth their while just doesn't work. It's an empty pool unless people put in more than they get out, on average.

On the other side, insurance is kinda pointless for expenses you could just absorb yourself. I don't insure short vacations; if I have to cancel, I can just eat the cost and not have to spend any time listening to Muzak on hold. For medium expenses, it might make sense to self-insure; set aside that money and live like you don't have it until you're sure you won't need it (vacation is over, etc.)

Dive accidents seem to sit right at the intersection of rare enough for insurance to be affordable but bad enough that you want the insurance.

 

[caydiver]

Mostly we see two types. Not going to go there or the saying stirring up the hornets nest will go Uber. If I add in number three apesh*t comes to mind, but this past two weeks has been many divers across the spectrum. A couple have many decades and thousands of hours. A couple haven’t even reached more than 2.5 decades since birth and are super young and fit (honestly a rarity). The young ones took it in stride as sports injuries. The older ones couldn’t understand how they ended up in the chamber. One incredible gentleman had 5000 before he stopped counting .... he was my worst so far. Made me really think about what numbers mean. My safety level has started to look like a lucky level. I am a good diver and so far a lucky diver. Hope all of us stay lucky.