Dive insurance

Hello

new reg? new bcd, new wettie?
BROUGHT ANY INSURANCE???????
For a while now ive been working as a dive medic on a island 60km from the main land in Thailand with over 30 schools here and thousands of dives monthly we get a fair share of dive accidents.

I have also taught scuba using padi and ssi for several years.
most people will spend a fourtune on dive equipment most on gizmos and gimmicks but never any insurance.

Dive insurance is readly available on the net now and is relativly inexpensive. Most travel policys have restrictions and will not cover you.
At 800us dollars an hour average treatment 6 hours getting dcs can be expensive this is without evac, helicopters and speedboats which are not cheap.

I feel old wrighting this but when it hits the fan im faced with telling these people and it breaks my heart.
Most people wrongly assume all dive schools give coverage,They dont how can they? some schools here provide open water at 100us dollars including transport from bangkok free accomidation and food. This is without running costs.

so if your serious about your diving accept dcs can be a factor and will often bite you on the bum..when you least expect.
do not ignore symptoms because you cannot afford treatment, this can be devastating to your health long term let alone keep you from diving again.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. GET INSURANCE FOR DIVING, ITS CHEAP COMPARED TO MOST DIVE EQUIPMENT AND YOUR HEALTH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A FLASH PAIR OF FINS...

if you have not fallen asleep allready thanks for reading

Yep,
I bought insurance thru DAN and I got it before I have even purchased any other gear(BC and Reg).It is always better to be safe than sorry and hindsight is always 20-20 as they say.
I am a firm believer in having insurance wherever possible!!
Good to let others know hope they heed your advice

Karen
Hope to have my certification finished this weekend.

I was convinced to get DAN insured when I heard about a guy who incurred upward of $60.000 in medical bills after getting bent (undeservedly) and needing several chamber sessions. They covered all of it. I also like the idea of supporting DAN; they do good work, research, and training.

-Klaus

A partial solution might be to include a section on insurance and the consequences of not having insurance (i.e. the average cost of decompression illness is XYZ) in all openwater classes. As for the question on if openwater students and/or other students (e.g. advanced open water) are insured, perhaps someone more familiar on the subject could provide us with some clarification.

If people are not insured, dive shops could require proof of insurance before they allow a person to sign up for a class. While this may reduce the number of students (people may not want to pay another $100 for a class), it may add a safety factor (financially) for the dive shop for assuming DCS fees in the event of an incident. Another option is for the dive shops to contract out with insurance companies to insure people on a per class basis.

As to people diving uninsured (and knowing of the consequences of such), it is quite frankly their own funeral. I realize this may sound harsh, but in all reality the ultimate responsibility for a person's safety lies with themselves. I would have more sympathy for someone that was not told (by someone, whether it be by a LDS or a friend) of the risks of going diving uninsured. Some people may believe that their medical insurance already covers DCS.