Dive Assure New Price Increase

[Cacia]

In only 351 dives I have seen 6 others leave by ambulance, 2 of whom were air evaced to the US.

gee, who are you hanging out with Don?

fdog, you make me want to look closer at the trip insurance portion. Has anybody collected on that?

 

[scubamickey]

Except it would not let me plug in a Single Trip coverage rate? I got to wonder about that, too...??

Try it again. Without putting in how much single trip protection you want you won't get a good quote. I put in just $2500 for each of us (we're 41 and 43) and the total jumped to bout $485.

I have DAN preferred and usually take out trip insurance for any big trip. To cover a $6000 trip to the Caribbean in June, CSA Travel only charges me about $180 or so. It's about 3% of the total amount. So CSA plus DAN comes out to about $350.

Both they and DAN are secondary but my BC/BS covers us oversees. I'm kind of over insured, actually. I would prefer DiveAssure just to have the primary coverage and not have to deal with coordination of benefits and fights over who will pay what. But that $100+ savings every year might be worth it.

DiveAssure's equipment coverage doesn't impress me. It only covers problems during a trip. I have DEPP and they cover for just about any reason. Although the premium is about $400 for us. My homeowners (State Farm) isn't going to cover an act of stupidity or my dive light flooding on a trip I think.

This shouldn't be so difficult....I might just start taking chances and not do the trip insurance. I've never needed to cancel a trip and we are both in perfect health with no family history of anything.

 

[DandyDon]

Try it again. Without putting in how much single trip protection you want you won't get a good quote. I put in just $2500 for each of us (we're 41 and 43) and the total jumped to bout $485.

Arrrg! Sites that don't work correctly on Firefox should put up a big banner saying "We know that Firefox is a superior browser, but you can't use it here...!"

I know that if you use a low "per trip" cost and have a claim on a more expensive trip then you lose part of the claim. If I use $3,000 on the two examples above (increase the wife's age a few years, but it doesn't seem to matter in that range), the rates go up a lot...

​

Put me down as "Not buying!"

I have DAN preferred and usually take out trip insurance for any big trip. To cover a $6000 trip to the Caribbean in June, CSA Travel only charges me about $180 or so. It's about 3% of the total amount. So CSA plus DAN comes out to about $350.

Yeah, you'd have to use $6,000 for the entire year. :11:

Both they and DAN are secondary but my Aetna covers us oversees. I'm kind of over insured, actually. I would prefer DiveAssure just to have the primary coverage and not have to deal with coordination of benefits and fights over who will pay what. But that $100+ savings every year might be worth it.

My medical does not cover me internationally, and I just would not want to claim on my homeowners!

DiveAssure's equipment coverage doesn't impress me. It only covers problems during a trip. I have DEPP and they cover for just about any reason. Although the premium is about $400 for us. My homeowners (State Farm) isn't going to cover an act of stupidity or my dive light flooding on a trip I think.

This shouldn't be so difficult....I might just start taking chances and not do the trip insurance. I've never needed to cancel a trip and we are both in perfect health with no family history of anything.

DON'T DO THAT! Trip insurance is cheap compared to the risk.

I do want to talk with DAN about Traveler's Assist which is included in DAN dive insurance. You are not covered for medical on a trip, but if they will fly you back...??

 

[jim T.]

I have the platinum plan. I don't completely trust my health insurance plan company so I don't mind having a 2nd primary plan with Dive Assure as additional.... insurance
I have gotten good specific replies from their customer service BUT i've asked on SB on other threads over the past couple of years if anyone here has gone to a chamber and/or been flown back to the U.S. for treatment on a Dive Assure plan, especially the platinum. So far no replies.

 

[DandyDon]

I've seen two divers flown back to Florida... :11:

 

[scubamickey]

You're right about the trip insurance Don. I'll still get it, but every year I go through this phase where I get cheap and don't want to pay an extra $200 for trip insurance. That's 4 tank dives!

I don't want to rely on Blue Cross actually paying out in a timely manner but that's my primary insurance and unless I want to pay through the nose to DiveAssure I will have to trust BC/BS to take care of things. I'm actually not too worried. They have an extensive website just on international coverage and where to go. They also state that if if your travel location doesn't have a PPO hospital or if that hospital can't treat you, they will still cover you. Albeit at an out of network rate. So DAN will step in at that time.

Plus, there are some reasonably priced trip insurance that are primary.

 

[fdog]

gee, who are you hanging out with Don?

fdog, you make me want to look closer at the trip insurance portion. Has anybody collected on that?

Sorry about the late reply, Catherine. No, I haven't met anybody personally that has used the travel insurance portion. I have had experience with AIG insurance, and it was hassle-free; the check arrived at the speed of sound.

Something that's being overlooked here is the travel insurance is for the whole year. It covers every dive trip you take. Even driving to the coast is a covered trip.

If you travel a lot, this is a no-brainer. With typical per-trip insurance, Janet and I would have a bill of ~$1500, plus dive insurance ($200).

Our plan is the Diamond with Trip coverage for $3000 each. Last year this was about $550 for the both of us, and this year it'll be about $750. Yes, it's an increase, but it's not double, and it's still a good economic decision for us, so we'll take it.

You have to look at it from your own economics.


All the best, James



PS - although this conversation is about DiveAssure and their rate increase for Trip Insurance, there is another side of it: it would take an awful lot to change my mind about the (follow this link, it's worth it) sad history of DAN and it's insurance scandal.

 

[DandyDon]

Peter Bennett was indeed a serious problem and expensive to exorcise from DAN. I believe that he, his family, and his associates are all removed completely now, aren't they?

 

[bobmaggi]

Just my 2 cents worth. I was in a dive accident in Aug.'05, spent time in a chamber, 12 days in ICU w/ pneumonia ( 16 days in hospital total). Recovered completely. The total medical bill was~ $85-90,000, which included 3 hour ambulance ride to where DAN told 1st ER/trauma room to take me to chamber/hospital. Plus this luckily was one of the best hospitals around. I was unconscious for 12 days,most of that in a medically induced coma to help me heal from the pneumonia. We have excellent medical insurance thru my husband's job. We also have the DAN preferred. DAN covered all of the payments the other insurance wouldn't-deductibles, copays, etc., which was ~$5-6000. They also paid for my drysuit which had to be cut off of me. They would have paid for more, but we just didn't claim it(weekend dive trip interrupted/cancelled, husband's lodging while I was in hospital, etc). Out of this big bill, we paid ~$100 of it. Sure, there was the hassle of sending the copies of the bills to DAN, and the hassles of the bills crossing in the mail, and the phone calls about them, and all. Sure, DAN was a bit slow, their claims take 30-40 days to pay. But you know what, that $184 was the some of the best $ we ever spent, and we are satisfied w/ them. We only had to fill out the main accident claim ONCE.

We usually go on 1-2 big trips/year, not counting our 3 weeks in Maui ( where we can change plans on our own). We usually only have used the trip insurance for the summer trips-Bahama liveaboards-(where weather could be a problem)

After reading all this about DiveAssure, I am not convinced I would want to go w/ them now.. . . we already have good primary medical insurance.

Just my 2 cents worth. Maggi

ps. while I was in the hospital w/ accident stated above, Bob kept you all informed, in Aug. 2005. All of you were very supportive of him and prayers for me. Thanks again. Maggi

 

[scubamickey]

Maggi: Thanks for the info. Nothing beats first hand information.

Where were you when you had your accident? In the US or overseas?