Is your process backwards? DAN is the last insurance I would consider since it is a niche product.
I claim you need to think of coverage in the following order: (YMMV)
- travel medical insurance
- trip interruption insurance
- trip cancellation insurance
. . .
I agree with your thinking about trip interruption and cancellation. So that leaves travel medical. My thinking is that the probability of having a major medical problem that is NOT related to an accident is low. The DAN insurance covers accidents, and that's why I have the top tier--repatriation back to the US, etc. For less serious medical problems, my thinking is that I am willing to play the odds of having to pay out of pocket. Maybe because you are Canadian you are accustomed to having insurance to pay for everything. As an American, I find that medical care is reasonably priced just about everywhere EXCEPT the US. A procedure that costs $10,000 in the US might cost $1,000 in the finest hospital in Bangkok. Americans are increasingly doing "medical tourism" to get treated in other countries. My US health insurance has a high deductible, so I essentially end up paying out of pocket for everything but the most major treatment anyway. If I contract some horrible disease, I'd rather get treated abroad where it's more affordable.
Again, it's about probabilities. In one of these travel insurance threads, I recall reading an anecdote about someone who became seriously ill abroad and had to pay a lot of money--a lot more than the $1,000 in my example above. So, I will admit that anything can happen. It just seems to me that if something happens that requires expensive treatment, it is much more likely to be the result of an accident than an illness. So the first insurance I consider is the DAN accident insurance.