Dive for long enough, and you’re bound to hear about Diver’s Alert Network (DAN), which focuses on research and insurance, making diving a safer activity all round.
While their main focus is diving research, dive accidents and developing safer diving procedures, DAN has offered dive-specific insurance for years, covering medical emergency costs including hyperbaric treatment, rescue efforts in case you’re lost at sea, and coverage for loss of equipment due to theft, transport, or in a rescue scenario. This coverage applies both in your home country and when you’re traveling. DAN also offers student and liability coverage for divemasters and instructors in the pro plans.
However, for all the pros of this insurance, some situations that relate to travel have not, until now, been covered. From luggage loss to cancellation coverage and general health coverage while abroad, divers have had to supplement their DAN insurance with another plan. But with DAN’s new travel insurance products, that gap has been bridged, allowing divers to combine their dive and travel insurance with one company. There’s a choice of single-trip insurance or annual insurance for those who travel regularly.
Travel insurance plans
Similar to the dive insurance, this new coverage is available in three tiers: Traveler, Explorer and Voyager for the annual plans; Basic, Premium and Elite for the single-trip plan. What’s covered between the six options is the largely the same, but the amount that’s covered under tier each varies greatly, from, as an example, $10,000 for medical and dental in the annual Traveler plan to $100,000 in the single-trip Elite plan. Generally speaking, the coverage limits are much higher in the single-trip plans compared to the annual plans (the single-trip basic plan has a limit of $25,000 for medical and dental, compared to the annual traveler’s $10,000). The coverage areas hit all the essentials for travel insurance, and the limits, even with the basics plans, will cover most traveling divers’ needs.
Annual versus single-trip coverage
Annual plans are surprisingly costly, compared to the single-trip option. In the two options’ basic plans, you’d need to make about seven annual trips for the annual plan to be better value compared to buying single-trip plans for each trip. Coverage limits are also generally higher in the single-trip plans, and more situations are covered, so it’s my prediction that most people will choose a single-trip plan most of the time.
Time to change your insurance?
So should you change your travel insurance? DAN’s prices are reasonably competitive, though it’s hard to make a real comparison, as many insurance companies will take health info into consideration when giving you a quote, and many offer discounts if you have other insurances with the same company. So if your current insurance provider offers travel plans, you may want to comparison shop. For simple peace of mind, there’s an advantage to having all your travel and dive insurance with one company, as any dive accident is likely to impact your vacation on a more general level, too.
