I'm 71 and DAN won't insure me -- now what?

[Celt]

I have posted this story in the past, but new members join SB all the time so it doesn't hurt to repeat information about an event (not connected to me) that helped me to finally make up my mind about the wisdom of taking dive and travel insurance.

A dive shop owner named Gary McNabb had retired and closed his shop and moved to Florida. While all these changes were taking place he let his DAN insurance lapse and forgot to renew it before making a dive trip with his wife to Ambergris Caye, Belize. On one of the dives he surfaced too close to the boat and suffered a serious head injury. He was transferred to a hospital in Belize City for surgery and critical care and later transported by air to Texas where he died in a hospital.

He was a veteran and he had good insurance coverage in the US but his expenses outside the US were very great, and apparently not covered by the boat or the resort, and so his friends had set up the GoFundMe page at the link below to try and help his family.

I didn't know Gary McNabb but I am guessing that he wouldn't have wanted to leave behind a terrible financial burden for his family. He paid for insurance for years and probably didn't use it much, but the one time he really needed it, he didn't have it. So now I try to make sure that we always have it - but I hope that we will never need it!

Click here to support Gary McNabb Family Support Fund organized by Barbara Brower

Surely the operator in Belize was the one that was liable,

 

[tursiops]

As a business operator you must have insurance to cover your clients,

Perhaps in Ireland.

 

[KathyV]

As a business operator you must have insurance to cover your clients,

That's true here in the US also, business owners have liability insurance if someone is injured on their property or hurt as a result of services that they provided - but what about the heart attack question? If someone walks into a shoe shop and suddenly collapses with a heart attack, is the shop owner responsible for his medical expenses?

In the US the patron is likely to have personal health insurance to cover most of his expenses, but if he travels to another country before shopping for shoes and having a heart attack, it seems unlikely that he will be fully covered by either his personal insurance back home, or by the shop owner, or the government of the country he is visiting.

One time my husband forgot to bring contact lenses for one eye on a trip to Vancouver, Canada (he packed too many for one eye and not enough for the other).

His eye doctor faxed the prescription to him and he took it all over town trying to buy contacts with his credit card but no one could provide the service. I don't know if it was because his eye doctor was not licensed in Canada, but the staff repeatedly told him that they didn't have a way to process such a transaction.

Finally a kind woman in an eye clinic took pity on him and gave him some "free samples" to tide him over for the rest of the trip. She couldn't take his money but she could give them away for free - go figure?!

Health care can be very complicated, both at home and in foreign lands, and I think that insurance is even more complicated!

 

[KathyV]

Surely the operator in Belize was the one that was liable,

Apparently not. The family could probably try to sue the resort and the dive op but I don't know anything about Belizean law or if they could hope recoup many expenses.

I remember that there was a big blow-up about the Gary McNabb accident in Belize because the dive op didn't report the incident to the proper authorities.

 

[KathyV]

Surely the operator in Belize was the one that was liable,

Here is the article about the mishandling of the Gary McNabb accident in Belize. The dive op reported the accident to the tourism board but not to the police or the port authority! The authorities actually heard about it "via street intelligence" after McNabb had already died in Texas.

The dive op and resort just kept saying that it was sad but it wasn't their fault. I don't think it would be easy to get money in this situation, no wonder his friends set up a fund to help the family.

Diver Succumbs to Injuries; Boat Captain Fails to Report Accident to Authorities - The San Pedro Sun

 

[lowflyer]

I shouldn't need to enumerate the potential expenses of a diving/medical issue in a foreign country, but many tens of thousands of dollars minimum.

Add that to the naivete of depending on someone else's insurance (boat, dive op, etc)

Now factor in the low cost of DAN's top of the line insurance plan, the Guardian, at $125/yr.

Now, unless you live in a country that will fly in medical personnel to your location, patch you up, airlift you home, put you in a chamber if needed, etc., at no expense to you, seems like a no-brainer to spend what amounts to a fraction of the costs of the sport itself, let alone potential injury/medical problems, for the insurance. YMMV

 

[caydiver]

In The Cayman Islands we are required to liability insurance that covers our guests. I cannot say everyone does but if you go with a CITA member, they will have liability insurance. We do not have coverage for guests who require the services of a hyperbaric chamber as we cannot control their behavior leading up to their dives. There is a huge difference between travel insurance, health insurance, liability insurance and dive insurance. If you are a diver it is very foolish not to pay for the dive insurance coverage.

 

[tursiops]

If you are a diver it is very foolish not to pay for the dive insurance coverage.

^^^THIS^^^
It is not expensive, and if you don't need it then someone else who DOES need it will benefit from being in the risk pool.

And if you DO need it, it is priceless. Especially being able to get DAN on the line to be your advocate for your care. that alone is worth the price.

 

[BRT]

A black eye for DAN, IMO. They should at least let you get it at a higher price if actuarial numbers show they have been shelling out too much in the way of benefits to people over 70.

My understanding is that they will no longer give the Guardian (highest) level insurance to anyone over 70. But they will give the Preferred and Master coverage levels, which are better than nothing.

Call them.

Washington State only allows the Guardian policy. Insurance commissioner is helping us out.

 

[k4kafka]

Wondering why coverage is regulated state by state and not nationally ? And whatever became of age discrimination?