DAN Membership/Insurance

[RobPNW]

I'm going on a dive trip out of country in a couple weeks and I have to check whether my normal insurance covers diving accidents and/or those that happen out of the country.

I see DAN's $35/year membership includes an optional insurance plan. I assume that is an annual fee? Who has or recommends it?

Not sure if I am reading it correctly but it looks like the basic membership has some kind of travel assistance to get you back to the States and to the closest stateside appropriate medical facility to treat the accident.

So a follow up question is this... If my regular insurance covers diving but only in country, can I use the DAN basic membership to get me to a US hospital and go from there?

As I typed that question I guess if I had a severe accident and they couldn't get me home first, I would be out of luck in that scenario.

Appreciate hearing what people do for coverage.

Thanks in advance,
Rob

 

[Marie13]

I have the top DAN plan, about $130 a year. It’s on top of membership.

I’m going to be blunt - if you’re diving and don’t have any sort of dive insurance, you need to get it NOW. There was a Canadian tech diver who was doing the Brittanic last year. 300ft deep or something like that. He had let his DAN plan lapse. Even after his girfriend nagged him constantly before the trip, he still didn’t renew. He got a really bad DCS hit and ended up paralyzed. They had to do a Go Fund Me to raise the money to get him home to Canada from Ireland.

Diving without the additional insurance is to put it plainly, stupid.

You have to let DAN make all the arrangements if there is an accident.

 

[markmud]

Hi RobPNW:

The DAN membership comes with lots of features that are worth the cost of membership. My wife and I pay for the Master Plan. We live in Ohio and our Insurance commissioner is reasonable, so we get a good deal.

We have a Mercedes Benz health insurance plan from work. I work for the gubmint.

Even still, we gladly pay for the Master Plan over and above our family membership plan. DAN has a great track record of getting your health issues stabilized before they start the subrogation process. If we were travelling to PNG, Truk, Saipan, Tinian, England, and etc, we would pay for the Platinum Plan.

This year we are travelling to the Caribbean only. The Islands we are going to either have good health care facilities or the resort we are going to has a DAN affiliated chamber with DAN trained techs.

For $135 a year? For my wife and I? It is chump change compared to what you are spending for the rest of your dive expedition.

Hell, last year I spent $1200 for a Perdix AI. I have two working computers already (one needed new wrist straps and an outer housing, but the computer works perfectly). Do the math, I could have bought a lot of insurance for many years for the price of that computer.

Just go to DAN and charge the membership and addition insurance on your CC.

cheers,
markmudgett

 

[muzikbiz22]

https://www.divetech.com/post/cover-your-ass

 

[CuriousRambler]

DAN is incredibly inexpensive insurance for what they offer. Even IF your primary insurance covers diving, it's an outright grantee they're not as familiar with dive medicine as DAN is, nevermind being aware of available hyperbaric treatment facilities in your area, including the current status of availability (ie are they down for maintenance, occupied for research, or otherwise unavailable for dive emergencies?). There's truly no good reason to *not* carry at least the minimum insurance plan if you're diving.

I've been out of diving for the last decade or so. My DAN membership and insurance lapsed in 2008. I'm taking a trip next month. Before I even sent my regulators out for service, I renewed my DAN coverage in preparation for the trip.

 

[Rob9876]

Not sure if I am reading it correctly but it looks like the basic membership has some kind of travel assistance to get you back to the States and to the closest stateside appropriate medical facility to treat the accident.

So a follow up question is this... If my regular insurance covers diving but only in country, can I use the DAN basic membership to get me to a US hospital and go from there?

As I typed that question I guess if I had a severe accident and they couldn't get me home first, I would be out of luck in that scenario.

I believe that in most cases where you have a dive-related medical issue you would need to get to the nearest chamber/barotrauma location immediately -- not wait to fly back to the U.S. We were on a liveaboard in the Bahamas when a young woman had DCS and had to be flown from the island we were near to the chamber in Nassau. Just that 30 minute evacuation flight was thousands of dollars, and the chamber ride was thousands more (thankfully, she fully recovered). I think I'm one of the biggest cheapskates on here, but the annual DAN insurance price is a bargain.

 

[RobPNW]

Looks like the $125 "Guardian" plan is the only one available in my state.

 

[tursiops]

Looks like the $125 "Guardian" plan is the only one available in my state.

Buy it. Period.
Some travel groups even require DAN insurance before you can travel with them.
And if you never need it, you are helping another diver. Nothing to lose.

 

[RobPNW]

Done

Between this, gear and the dive trip, April may be a ramen noodles month. I'm sure no one here can relate lol.

 

[tursiops]

Done

Between this, gear and the dive trip, April may be a ramen noodles month. I'm sure no one here can relate lol.