DAN and Canadian divers

TMHeimer · Jun 5, 2009

How many fellow Canadians are DAN members? If we don't have DAN insurance and need to visit the chamber, is that covered by each provincial health plan? If so, what other reasons would there be for going with DAN?

sschlesi · Jun 5, 2009

In have checked and under BC's MSP we are covered. A chamber ride will be emergency medicine and I would be very surprised if any province refused to cover the costs, but I don't know that for a fact.

DAN is a great group for reasons other than their insurance offerings, so a DAN membership without the insurance is a worhtwhile option. If you are diving outside of Canada their insurance is also worthwhile.

jjhill · Jun 6, 2009

In Alberta any chamber rides would be covered. However I am still a DAN member, but I only buy insurance for trips taken outside of Canada.

divingTim · Jun 6, 2009

its one thing to be covered for the visit, but does any of your local hospitols have a chamber, I live in kingston Ontario and from what I understand the closest Chamber to me is in Oshawa, a 2 hour drive.

wedivebc · Jun 6, 2009

I am told chamber rides are only covered to the point where the injury is no longer a threat to life and limb. Many DCS injuries require multple chamber treatments and some provincial medical plans only cover the treatments required to keep you alive.
That is just hearsay though and I don't know if that is true for sure.

TMHeimer · Jun 6, 2009

We have a chamber at the hospital in Halifax. Thanks folks for the input about some provincial plans. I would imagine our private Blue Cross would cover follow up treatments after it's not life-saving. For out of the country we have the Visa that covers out of country emergencies for a month. I would assume DSC would be definately an emergency.

wedivebc · Jun 6, 2009

TMHeimer:
. I would assume DSC would be definately an emergency.

I had a hit that resulted in numbness in my left hand while diving in Thailand. I was led to believe treatment for that hit was not covered byBC medical but I did have DAN insurance that would cover it. I opted to forgo treatment but I did not investigate further to see if the information about BC medical was correct

bleeb · Jun 6, 2009

divingTim:
its one thing to be covered for the visit, but does any of your local hospitols have a chamber, I live in kingston Ontario and from what I understand the closest Chamber to me is in Oshawa, a 2 hour drive.

There are chambers and there are chambers. IIRC (big "IF"), the province only officially has four chambers for diving emergencies: Ottawa, Toronto, London and Tobermory. I'm not in any sort of medical field, but I think the more common chambers are used for scheduled (business hours) treatment of things like CO poisoning, certain diabetes-related complications, and certain cancer treatments. They're generally not set up to handle emergencies, personnel, equipment or procedure-wise.

DAN and Canadian divers

Please register or login

TMHeimer

Contributor

sschlesi

Contributor

jjhill

Contributor

divingTim

Registered

wedivebc

CCR Instructor Trainer

TMHeimer

Contributor

wedivebc

CCR Instructor Trainer

bleeb

Contributor

Similar threads