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however, that risk can be significantly reduced or increased depending on the type of diving we practice.
obviously a diver doing a 30 min dive in warm water at 30 to 40 feet every couple of weeks during the summer would statistically be far less likely to need medical attention due to a decompression related problem compared to a diver that regularly performs decompression dives to depths below recreational limits for extended periods of time. and if they travel to do this, they may be in a remote area that does not offer proper treatment close by.
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the fear that something unlikely will happen is exactly what insurance companies count on. thats how they make a living.
I didn't meant to twist your words and for sure what you're saying was my philosophy until a couple of months ago.
Diving in the 80's I followed few rules because I was invencible. Continuing the trend when we got our boat, my husband and I did very agressive diving. Because of that, not only we made sure to be up to date with insurance, we equiped the boat with everything potentially needed for anything going south, including of course an oxygen kit. 14 years went by without a glitch and trust me we did some stupid stuff that I'm not particularly proud of.
Anyways we got the need for agressive dives out of our systems and now we do peaceful reef dives within 45 minutes from our backyard. Stopped dive trips and looking at our typical profiles decided it was a waste to maintain the dive insurance because, really... what can happen on those lame dives we do? they are so harmless we don't even bother with NITROX.
We love what we do but let's face it, they are baby dives.
So this one day a friend comes with us and shares this profile with me, the only difference between her dive and mine, she was doing NITROX to my air and I did all the lobstering while she just watched. we both got back on board after doing everything right and boom.
Her legs started tingling and after 14 years I used my Oxygen kit.
The following day we renewed our DAN insurance. Considering than our US medical insurance sometimes chockes when I want brand name instead of generic, I get the feeling they will give me a hard time with the bill of a chamber ride.
If I had better coverage on my medical insurance and more confidence on them, I'd skip the dive insurance. However, I won't understimate our lame dive profiles.