Dive Trip Insurance
I am often asked about dive trip insurance. I am writing this guide to explain the options. When people think about this they are often confusing two types of common insurance that are available. Dive Accident Insurance and Dive Travel (or Trip) Insurance. Dive accident insurance at it most basic level started with insuring divers for a trip to the decompression chamber after getting the bends. Dive trip insurance was more about insuring money spent on a vacation. Which should you get? Dive Trip Insurance to cover you for both medical and trip costs just during the trip. If you are more of a roll the dice person, then you still need to get the Dive Accident Insurance as most overseas operators require that as a minimum. Dive Trip Insurance is the recommendation. At a minimum, Dive Accident Insurance for medical evacuation and chamber costs.
There is more than one company to get these insurances. I’m just going to talk about DAN and DiveAssure and their programs, and give you the link to buy it if you want.
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What is the difference between Dive Accident and Dive Trip Insurance?
Dive Accident insurance only will cover medical evacuation, medical treatment, and hyperbaric chamber in the event of an accident, usually for a period of one year. Dive Trip Insurance will do all that for the trip AND insure the cost of the trip itself if you can’t go for a covered reason, or cant’ dive for a medical reason (ears usually) while you are on a trip.
Covered reasons include:
Sickness, Injury and Death: You, a traveling companion, or a family member becomes sick, injured, or passes away and you are unable to make the trip or must come home early.
Adverse Weather: Your flight is delayed or cancelled due to adverse weather such as a hurricane or snowstorm.
Involuntary Job Loss: You must be employed with the same employer for 1 year or more and the termination or layoff must occur 14 days or more after your coverage has taken effect.
Other benefits of Dive Trip Insurance include baggage protection, delay, and trip interruption.
Dive Trip Insurance aka Dive Travel Insurance
QR code for DAN Trip Insurance
There are two major players in the dive trip insurance market, DAN and Dive Assure. DAN is probably more well known and has a larger dive medical coverage. Link to DAN Trip Insurance.
In most cases Basic is probably enough, but the Elite package does have a cancel for any reason clause. If you have trip insurance through DAN, you don’t need the medical insurance for that trip as it is included. Trip Insurance means if you have to cancel for a covered reasonthen you will be reimbursed for the trip. Medical evacuation and baggage protection are also important benefits.
Link for DAN Trip Insurance
Dive Assure is the other company in the space.
Goto DiveAssure for Dive Trip Insurance
Liveaboard Dive Trip Insurance rider – get Dive Assure if this look appealing
Trip Cancellations Due To:
- Trip cancellation coverage due to a missed connection resulting in missing the liveaboard or in additional cost to join it.
- Trip cancellation coverage for missing liveaboard departure due to airline delays.
- Trip cancellation due to sinking of the liveaboard boat.
- Medical inability to dive
- Weather conditions not enabling diving/sailing
- Diving accident to other passenger on boat causing the boat to abort planned diving
- Expenses not reimbursed by the tour operator for default /mechanical breakdown to air supply
- Financial Default of the liveaboard operating company, or tour operator (Covered already by the Elite Plan)
Dive Accident Insurance
QR code for DAN Membership and Dive Accident Insurance
Dive Accident insurance only is for the gamblers. In this case you will not be covered for any costs of the trip if you can’t dive. Or can’t go. But, you still need it as it is more of a “catastrophic” policy. Medical evacuation from overseas, hyperbaric treatment, and other medical costs can be covered. Definitely recommend DAN for this one as they are the biggest and have the best network of doctors. In many cases oversea operators will not let you dive if you don’t have at least this.
To get DAN Dive Accident Insurance you have to be a DAN member ($40 for the year, has some benefits, including the pretty good magazine). Then you pay
- DAN Enhanced Membership: Guardian: $126.50 per year
- DAN Enhanced Membership: Preferred: $83.75 per year
- DAN Enhanced Membership: Master: $45.50 per year
- these charges are for the actual medical benefits are various levels (see link below)
Take Home Insurance Summary
You should always have dive accident insurance if you travel away from home and dive. Period. That is a no brainer. This covers medical flight repatriation which can by over $100,000. Hyperbaric chamber treatment, and medical expenses.
Trip Insurance our recommendation.
If want to insure your vacation, you get Dive Travel Insurance. You buy that either for a single trip, or for a year covering all international travel you do (including non dive trips). It is rare that this type of insurance is required by a resort or liveaboard, but they always recommend it. Their fine print often says that there are no refunds for weather, missed flights, medical inability to dive. If any of this happens to you, if you don’t have trip insurance you are just out of luck. I recommend it strongly because I don’t want to lose friends over money. If something happens, there is nothing I can do about it financially. There are a lot of things that can happen. Please get it, we do.