Should I get diving insurance?

[dpwrkK5]

So, do you have other insurance that will pay for expensive & timely treatments in an emergency? If not, perhaps you'd like to leave a note in this thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/123910-if-i-should-die-while-diving.html saying that it's okay if you couldn't afford treatment to prevent your death or crippling disability with loss of bowel movement control should the need arise and not be met - just for future references....

Insurance doesn't save lives or prevent accidents. Lack of insurance doesn't exclude you from life-saving treatment. Even DAN will assist non-members. It will just cost a lot.

 

[DandyDon]

Insurance doesn't save lives or prevent accidents. Lack of insurance doesn't exclude you from life-saving treatment. Even DAN will assist non-members. It will just cost a lot.

I think you are fooling only yourself. There are many places around the world where one will not receive life saving treatment in a timely manner if they can't afford it or have other means to guarantee payments, it can even happen in the US, and like I said - I have seen two leave dive locations who would not have survived had it not been for DAN to transport them back to the US on expensive, private medical planes immediately.

How you spend your $70/year that would pay for DAN membership and at least the middle program is your call, as is how you face death and crippling disability - but you are wrong here...!

DAN will counsel anyone, but not make treatment happen without coverage or money to fund it.

 

[Herk_Man]

I'd still rather spend my $70 on a fills, fuel, VIP's, annual service, batteries, silicone, o-rings, ice, beer, ingredients for ceviche...

Sorry your friend was hurt.

SEAN

But when that $50,000 hospital bill comes in, what WON'T you be able to buy. That's the real issue here.

 

[dpwrkK5]

I think you are fooling only yourself. There are many places around the world where one will not receive life saving treatment in a timely manner if they can't afford it or have other means to guarantee payments, it can even happen in the US, and like I said - I have seen two leave dive locations who would not have survived had it not been for DAN to transport them back to the US on expensive, private medical planes immediately.

How you spend your $70/year that would pay for DAN membership and at least the middle program is your call, as is how you face death and crippling disability - but you are wrong here...!

DAN will counsel anyone, but not make treatment happen without coverage or money to fund it.

Wrong from your perspective, which seems to be founded in pessimism and fear. Had the person who started this thread said: I'm a deep diving deco fiend and love super cold water with low vis in terrible sea conditions while feeding sharks; I'd say go buy some insurance. The kind of diving they did describe is very low risk recreational diving. I think they would benefit more from $35 or $70 worth of books about diving than from insurance.

 

[DandyDon]

The kind of diving they did describe is very low risk recreational diving.

The same kind being done by the two people I mentioned. One was a still unexplained hit on a lady who used to dive extensively, getting back into it, and the other was an in water cardiac event - neither of whom would have survived in the foreign locations had they not been transported back to the states and treated.

As long as you stay in Florida tho, you may be able to get treated if needed - at public expense.

 

[dpwrkK5]

But when that $50,000 hospital bill comes in, what WON'T you be able to buy. That's the real issue here.

Good point, logical. I'm willing to accept that risk. To me the issue really is that simple.

SEAN

 

[Herk_Man]

And that's fair. We all make our own choices. Just didn't want someone to latch onto that point of view without thinking through the major issues.

 

[dpwrkK5]

As long as you stay in Florida tho, you may be able to get treated if needed - at public expense.

I dive all over the Caribbean.

It only becomes "public expense" if I don't pay for it.

 

[fellowtraveler44]

But when that $50,000 hospital bill comes in, what WON'T you be able to buy. That's the real issue here.

I assume you have health insurance to pay this $50,000 hospital bill. Why do you all think that recompression treatment is not covered by standard health insurance? Maybe the private flight from a remote island is not covered, but recompression? What health insurance policy excludes that? Not mine.

I might also add that hyperbaric treatment is used for many maladies, particularly burn treatment. If the only people that could afford treatment in a recompression chamber were those with DAN insurance, how could a recompression chamber stay in business?

 

[DandyDon]

I dive all over the Caribbean.

It only becomes "public expense" if I don't pay for it.

If one argument fails, try a few others huh...?