Info Is DAN Insurance worthwhile?

[34109411]

Interesting to see their comments, especially the bottom one. The fact is that, in some locations, DAN can’t immediately help you so you should take that into consideration if planning a risky dive.

Regardless of whether DAN screwed up here or not (the jury is still out on that until all facts are known), they seem to think that DAN is a magic resource that can render assistance almost immediately anywhere and anytime. That is just not realistic.

As an example, I was in Little Cayman in September - i was told that the airport closes at night as there are no runway lights, so no planes can land there to rescue you at night. If the seas are rough, no boat can ferry you to Cayman Brac where a rescue plane could land. Therefore, one should really consider that if planning a risky late day dive as help would not be coming until the next morning at the earliest.

but how to explain he did get an airplane on his own when DAN said it t was not possible ?

 

[auto]

Where on DAN does it say the insured needs to pay out of pocket? I see testimonials where they paid directly for the insured's treatment. I do not see anywhere saying the insured need to pay in advance.

They sure as hell asked for my proof of payment of my deductible before starting the reimbursement process.

 

[jlcnuke]

Here's some problems I have with Woody and Gus's story-telling here (and yes, they are telling a story, and infusing their opinions into everything from my opinion of the video):

1. They appear to be idiots. Some of the things they complained about included:
A. Being asked to take 3 minutes to fill out what they could of a 6 page form from DAN... like DAN should just arrange transport/treatment for everyone in the world simply because they got a call, for free, without even checking to see if they were a member etc.,

B. Having to ask a Doctor, to fill out a form that looked like it would take 2 minutes or less, so DAN could have in writing what was needed to safely transport the doctor's patient in their medical opinion, instead of just doing whatever they remember from a phone call from somebody or other..... because just doing whatever Gus said would be the responsible thing to do obviously, or just try to remember what the doctor said and hope things work out right... yeah, much better options there boys, unless you have any better option like writing it down available anyway....

C. It's a DIRE EMERGENCY that can't be bothered with even a 3 minute delay without horrifying consequence!!.... hours and hours after it not being worth bothering to even get a medical opinion... yeah, that's gonna make some people think you've just thought of a great video idea and went with it, even if that isn't true.

2. They literally admit that the initial Dr. wasn't trained or familiar in these issues, and DAN's guidelines for their help-line said that the symptoms weren't indicating what the untrained Dr. was saying was probably happening (from personal experience, if you tell a Dr. in some 2nd/3rd world country you had been diving, and they know DAN will pay for your dive accident, they may arrive at DCS as the cause without having any clue about DCS.... tell them you think it's DCS and the Dr. is almost certainly making that diagnosis).

So you have an untrained Dr. (in this field of medicine), making an uninformed diagnosis, with patient and friend feeding them that diagnosis, and a set of established medical guidelines disagreeing. After some brief consideration, DAN decided to pursue treatment anyway, despite the symptoms not clearly indicating the problem Woody and Gus were claiming. Probably just to be on the safe side, even if it cost them a lot of money.

3. DAN then tried to do things "properly", with the arranging of proper equipment, using proper safety protocols, proper personnel, etc., and Woody and Gus decided that Woody being rich meant they'd just do things their way instead and complain doing it right wasn't as good as doing it fast (a theme throughout their video I noticed). Despite all that, DAN still was nice enough to recognize people are stupid, and reimburse Woody for his poor choices anyway (which was probably significantly cheaper than doing it right would have been anyway).

Oh, and the little kicker is not being able to put a modest charge on any credit card but one, and that's somehow relevant to the story and makes AMEX amazing.... despite the tons of people who have no problem putting 5 or 6 figure charges on their visa/MC's every year lol.

 

[Vicko]

the guide was Brian Kakuk if you have no idea who he is read about it before commenting.

There are 2 possible scenarios.

Either the guide has a well planned operation, that does not leave their customers googling for a medivac hours after the incident, and knows the signs of severe DCS, which would mean that the video is embellished.

Or the guide did not give a crap, which would lead to my previous statement about doubting the expertise of everyone involved.

 

[Boarderguy]

but how to explain he did get an airplane on his own when DAN said it t was not possible ?

Have you read the rest of these replies? DAN is operating out of an office and has a list of contacts they use. That list may not be up to date or have the unlisted local numbers Gus and crew were able to obtain. Being local, with local contacts, makes it a lot easier to set things up than someone in a remote location trying to determine if the delayed call to them really necessitates an emergency evac to a chamber. Insurance wants to spend the least $ no matter what.

 

[SeaIRL]

These facts are from a YouTube video made by an inherently biased party;

Please clarify your assertion. I would like to hear on what facts you are basing that statement.

 

[34109411]

Have you read the rest of these replies? DAN is operating out of an office and has a list of contacts they use. That list may not be up to date or have the unlisted local numbers Gus and crew were able to obtain. Being local, with local contacts, makes it a lot easier to set things up than someone in a remote location trying to determine if the delayed call to them really necessitates an emergency evac to a chamber. Insurance wants to spend the least $ no matter what.

i try to read all of them oh well **** happen

 

[Boarderguy]

i try to read all of them oh well **** happen

It's a lot to keep up with. I'm getting alerts from both threads. I read, reply, read, react, try to do my job a little bit, read some more lol

 

[lostsheep]

Please clarify your assertion. I would like to hear on what facts you are basing that statement.

Seriously? I wasn’t there, were you? Did you speak directly to someone involved in this incident?

My assertion was self explanatory and simple so I’ll not be expanding any further.

 

[TravelGas]

i try to read all of them oh well **** happen

Lots of deleted posts, makes this topic even harder to follow.