PLEASE: Don't dive without DAN insurance AND the cheapest plan is the Wrong one!

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DAN is great for travel and I have it for myself, but I live in Canada and for accidents here I am already covered, 100%.
 
My instructor mentioned DAN during our OW course (I don't know if we had the insurance)

While a dive accident is not the most likely thing to happen, I know someone that's hundreds of thousands of dollars thankful for DAN and their insurance

The cost of the Preferred Plan, the best coverage they offer, is $5.84 per month ... hard to justify spending less than the price of one fast food meal a month for a lower plan
 
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DAN is great for travel and I have it for myself, but I live in Canada and for accidents here I am already covered, 100%.
I understand that to be so as I mentioned in post #1, unless you leave Canada - even diving Puget Sound where you might be taken to the US for treatment.
I signed up for DAN last week and opted for the master plan mainly for my dive trip later this week. Local government health insurance might cover use of a decompression chamber as I could see that being classified as a "therapeutic procedure ordered by a doctor", but their website doesn't specify one way or another. On the flip side, I did find out tonight that one of the member benefits is a free air fill per month at my LDS, which basically pays for the membership and insurance if I use them all.
I think it is all covered ok in Canada but there are places even in the Thousand Islands where you have to leave the dive boat on an island, show your passport to dive US waters, and need DAN coverage. I did that two days in a row once.

And we see a lot of Canadians in other US and Latin American destinations.
 
You dive with DAN or you don't dive with me:wink: Is DAN in the new heath give away? Did we put DAN out of business in the next 6 years? Will DAN insurance qualify for insurance so you don't have to pay a penalty? I dived with someone from Finland who didn't have DAN and didn't need it as they are covered all over the world! By treaty all countries must render aid and then they would bill the persons home country. Unless your an illegal Alien in the US and then we will pay for it. Now I am totally confused and all I know is I dive with DAN!
 
Yea, it's pretty large :p

Yea, you might need to be flown there, which ambulance cover will pay for if you have it. If not it would be expensive! Or you can also get the DAN Asia-Pacific Membership (you don't need the insurance part, that's for dive injury costs), which will cover emergency evacuation fees when you are more than 80km from home pretty much anywhere in the world.

I just pay AU$350 a year for a fully comprehensive annual travel insurance policy, and that covers scuba diving and full evacuation coverage anywhere in the world including at home in Oz (that also includes a premium for skiing/snowboarding). If you travel overseas a lot it's a really good option, as it covers general travel stuff as well as diving.
 
In deciding what level to get, it's worthwhile to recall that DAN (Americas at least) is secondary insurance, and to therefore thoroughly review your primary coverage for exclusions, or lack therof.
 
DAN's probably ok if you need a chamber ride.

As to covering "dive related accidents" like they claim, their insurance is garabage. I have their preferred plan. I broke my tib. and fib. resulting in big surgery on dec 31st of last year when I slipped and fell on the exit a few feet from the water IN FULL DIVE GEAR. The paramedics had to cut my drysuit off of me to get me in the ambulance. DAN informed me that they only cover "dive related accidents". Then they turned down my appeal on the same grounds. So just FYI: DAN isn't some kind of miracle organization. They'll do their darndest to weasel their way out of paying a claim just like any other insurance company.
 
If it is a diving related accident though they do pay. In my class, the instructor had gone on a trip to Fiji the year before, one of the divers got bent and had to go to the chamber, spend an extra two weeks there before being cleared, etc. The cost came to 8k or so and DAN covered it all.
 
DAN's probably ok if you need a chamber ride.

As to covering "dive related accidents" like they claim, their insurance is garabage. I have their preferred plan. I broke my tib. and fib. resulting in big surgery on dec 31st of last year when I slipped and fell on the exit a few feet from the water IN FULL DIVE GEAR. The paramedics had to cut my drysuit off of me to get me in the ambulance. DAN informed me that they only cover "dive related accidents". Then they turned down my appeal on the same grounds. So just FYI: DAN isn't some kind of miracle organization. They'll do their darndest to weasel their way out of paying a claim just like any other insurance company.
That does suck but I can see both sides of the issue. I would think they should cover dive related in the water, on the ladder, on the boat, on the dock, on the way to the dock, etc - but that really is Trip Insurance then, or at least Trip Accident insurance. They do have a $10,000 extra Accident coverage on the Preferred plan when out of country, which actually has always seemed odd to me, but I guess you were in the US?

DAN is a corporation, and while operating under 501(c)3 status, still - their number one objective is to survive as a company yeah, then to serve the members well do do so even tho there are no stockholders to please. I suppose that the membership could ask for Trip Accident coverage that would include boat, dock, and/or shore coverage - but I am guessing it would cost much more, yet not be appealing to many. So they added Trip Insurance as a separate option; I do Trip Ins out of country, but I do it elsewhere - and not in US. It does seem odd that they wouldn't extend coverage to on the boat, but someone has to call the line somewhere. Diving Accidents are in the water; anything else we add is extra and cost extra.
best wishes!
 
I don't know if you have a vested interest or are just a fan of DAN's....
Undercurrent had a good comment on this topic a while ago (paraphrasing):"If you have a claim, remember that you are not dealing with your best buddy, but with a corporation whose number one goal is to maximize its profit".

BTW, I don't think there is any corporation or non-profit that only wants to "survive" - the goal always is to maximize the profit, how much money they have in the bank, etc.

DAN does good things, but I don't think they are some kind of miracle corporation that heals the sick etc etc.
 

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