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DAN, what is it? and why do I want it?


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23 replies to this topic

#1 duganalexzander

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Posted 06 April 2011 - 08:46 PM

So, being young and (thinking that I'm) indestructible, DCS is not something that I plan on happening to me in the next few years. However, accidents happen. Especially when I'm involved. So, most of us have heard of DAN (Divers Alert Network) and know that they provide insurance. However....that is about where my knowledge about DAN stops.

Thus far I haven't dove internationally, but I'd love to at some point soon. Thus, i've never really considered purchasing a DAN policy.

So for all you divers who LOVE DAN (and there are many on this site), what does DAN do and why do I want to spend my money on them? Is there any benefit to having DAN if you only dive in the US?

Plus any additional info you'd like to share about it.

-Will

#2 georoc01

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Posted 06 April 2011 - 09:06 PM

So, being young and (thinking that I'm) indestructible, DCS is not something that I plan on happening to me in the next few years. However, accidents happen. Especially when I'm involved. So, most of us have heard of DAN (Divers Alert Network) and know that they provide insurance. However....that is about where my knowledge about DAN stops.

Thus far I haven't dove internationally, but I'd love to at some point soon. Thus, i've never really considered purchasing a DAN policy.

So for all you divers who LOVE DAN (and there are many on this site), what does DAN do and why do I want to spend my money on them? Is there any benefit to having DAN if you only dive in the US?

Plus any additional info you'd like to share about it.

-Will

As you said, accidents happen. And unless you are 100% sure that your insurance will cover any kind of dive accident you might have, its a cheap add on that will cover anything that could go wrong. I have never needed it, but have seen enough around me that if god forbid I did, I'm glad I do.

Given the thousands of dollars I have spend on gear and dive trips, Dan is a relative cheap investment I wouldn't dive w/o.

#3 Guest_PlatypusMan_*

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Posted 06 April 2011 - 09:46 PM

Okay--I'm someone who actually used his DAN insurance back in 2009 and early 2010.

But not for anything DCS or chamber-related; I fell down a breakwater at a dive site in Australia and broke my right ankle.

(Anyone interested in that tale can read up about it by clicking HERE.)

Most folks don't realize that their US-based employee insurance generally stops covering them once they cross the border, so having DAN as a secondary carrier makes ton of sense. IIRC, they will cover you provided you are 50 or more miles from your home, and depending on the level of coverage you choose will even pay the costs associated with Medivac of your carcass to wherever it needs to be for best treatment.

DAN. Get it for the time when 'it can't happen to me' actually occurs.

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#4 ReelDiver

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Posted 06 April 2011 - 10:42 PM

Aside from the awesome amazing dive injury / chamber riding / doctor finding / medical training / emergency managing stuff DAN does they also do medical research into diving related things. Research that would probably be getting done on a $25 budget by a PhD hopeful in the most dry & remote part of Oklahoma if it wasn't for the folks at DAN. Plus they throw pretty fun parties at DEMA!! :cheerleader:

#5 WreckWench

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 01:21 AM

Another option for DIVE INSURANCE is Dive Assure. Either way...do not leave home without it if you are a diver.

Students can get a complementary policy via Dive Assure and get discounted rates if they keep the policy going after certification.

Both plans have pluses and both are good companies.

JUST PICK ONE!!!

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#6 uwfan

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 01:36 AM

Any dive is a possible DCS dive. I just got back from Cozumel and while we were there some guys we met did a dive that was NOT out of the ordinary and one of them (who happened to be working on his instructor rating) got the bends and had to take a chamber ride. I hope he had dive insurance - he needed it. We all need it.

#7 shadragon

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 05:12 AM

DAN is a support organization that will be there when you need someone. They can answer dive related questions, concerns about medication conflicts combined with the effects of depth and has doctors on standby in case of emergency. You do not need to be a DAN member to use their services. Indeed, I was not a member when I had my chamber ride. However, after seeing their response to my emergency I joined the following day and have been a member since.

I would rather forget my regulator than my DAN card on a dive trip. The regulator can be replaced.



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#8 lv2dive70

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 05:46 AM

So, being young and (thinking that I'm) indestructible, DCS is not something that I plan on happening to me in the next few years. However, accidents happen.


I was very lucky when I first started diving bc I didn't have DAN for the first three or four years. Until right AFTER a trip to turks and caicos where the dive boat took a wave funny, throwing me and the woman sitting across from me (we were the furthest up in the bow) off the benches, into the ceiling, and back on the benches - with great force. Before we even got close to splashing (read: accident). Anyways, I was the lucky one - I ended up with a fractured coccyx - couldn't dive anymore on that trip, or sit for a couple of weeks. THe other woman fractured 3 vertebrae in her back. SHe had to medivac'ed to Miami, spent several weeks in hospital there, then medivac'ed home to Indiana. She was out of work for some time, too. I spoke to her a few times afterward and I know DAN took care of a lot of the arrangements, logistically and financially. I bought the preferred policy before my next trip.
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#9 Greg@ihpil

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 05:58 AM

As the above "experienced" divers have related,its a well deserved & run organizaton.I joined the 1st yr I got cert.Aside from the protection aspect,they also offer education in saving a divers life from DCS,bites etc In addition ,the DAN Magazine alone is a very good Educational source for other aspects to diving.You can't drive w/out Insurance,I wouldn't :diver: w/out it
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#10 Landlocked Dive Nut

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 06:36 AM

Even if you only dive close to home, as you are doing right now......do you know where the closest decompression chamber is to you? I doubt that there is one in my entire state (possibly not in the surrounding states either!), much less close enough to do me any good. So, that means an expensive evac situation, then the expense of the chamber ride(s). Unless you have many thousands of dollars available on your trusty VISA card - which you will then have to spend years trying to repay, then dive insurance is the logical alternative.

Multiply the cost of that evac scenario by many times, if you're diving in remote parts of the world.....or if the country you're diving in either doesn't have a chamber, or it's down for repairs, or the only qualified operator is on vacation.

It's just like car, home, health or life insurance. You never want to NEED it, but it's very nice to have when the unexpected happens.
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#11 duganalexzander

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 07:20 AM

Even if you only dive close to home, as you are doing right now......do you know where the closest decompression chamber is to you?


SUNY Upstate Medical center, its about 45 minutes away by car. Medevac is even faster. That was one of the first things I looked up when deciding to dive solo.

Currently I'm on hold with Excellus trying to figure if my insurance covers DCI, I think it does but if it doesn't i'm asking for DAN Preferred plan in addition to a wetsuit for my birthday.



#12 lv2dive70

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 07:27 AM

Even if you only dive close to home, as you are doing right now......do you know where the closest decompression chamber is to you?


SUNY Upstate Medical center, its about 45 minutes away by car. Medevac is even faster. That was one of the first things I looked up when deciding to dive solo.

Currently I'm on hold with Excellus trying to figure if my insurance covers DCI, I think it does but if it doesn't i'm asking for DAN Preferred plan in addition to a wetsuit for my birthday.


Read my post. My situation had NOTHING to do with DCI. If it had happened in MIami instead of T&C, i"m not sure her primary ins. would have covered medivac'ing back to Indiana. It may have - but you might want to ask your insurance that. ANd that is just one other example. Also is your primary insurance capable of coordinating care for you? (that was rhetorical, they wouldn't know how to coordinate for a DCI hit). For the cost of DAN, it's around $100/year, you just can't get more peace of mind. I'm not saying it's perfect and people haven't had problems here and there - it's not and they have - but after things I have seen, I wouldn't consider diving without it. YMMV
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#13 georoc01

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 08:07 AM

Even if you only dive close to home, as you are doing right now......do you know where the closest decompression chamber is to you? I doubt that there is one in my entire state (possibly not in the surrounding states either!), much less close enough to do me any good. So, that means an expensive evac situation, then the expense of the chamber ride(s). Unless you have many thousands of dollars available on your trusty VISA card - which you will then have to spend years trying to repay, then dive insurance is the logical alternative.

Multiply the cost of that evac scenario by many times, if you're diving in remote parts of the world.....or if the country you're diving in either doesn't have a chamber, or it's down for repairs, or the only qualified operator is on vacation.

It's just like car, home, health or life insurance. You never want to NEED it, but it's very nice to have when the unexpected happens.


Im guessing you probably do have a chamber reasonably nearby, its just that they don't have to use it for DCS. So how much experience the doctors have in treating DCS is another question. At least DAN has the experts available to consult with in the rare chance you need them. I believe they are used in treating of burns as well as other uses outside of just diving accidents.

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 06:57 PM

Even if you only dive close to home, as you are doing right now......do you know where the closest decompression chamber is to you?


SUNY Upstate Medical center, its about 45 minutes away by car. Medevac is even faster. That was one of the first things I looked up when deciding to dive solo.

Currently I'm on hold with Excellus trying to figure if my insurance covers DCI, I think it does but if it doesn't i'm asking for DAN Preferred plan in addition to a wetsuit for my birthday.


Kate is right, DAN covers just about everything that happens start to finish with any dive related injury... even on land. I would ask for the insurance first and wetsuit second. Its only $75 a year. That is the best deal you will ever find related to diving.

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Posted 07 April 2011 - 07:03 PM

Even if you only dive close to home, as you are doing right now......do you know where the closest decompression chamber is to you? I doubt that there is one in my entire state (possibly not in the surrounding states either!), much less close enough to do me any good. So, that means an expensive evac situation, then the expense of the chamber ride(s). Unless you have many thousands of dollars available on your trusty VISA card - which you will then have to spend years trying to repay, then dive insurance is the logical alternative.

Multiply the cost of that evac scenario by many times, if you're diving in remote parts of the world.....or if the country you're diving in either doesn't have a chamber, or it's down for repairs, or the only qualified operator is on vacation.

It's just like car, home, health or life insurance. You never want to NEED it, but it's very nice to have when the unexpected happens.


Im guessing you probably do have a chamber reasonably nearby, its just that they don't have to use it for DCS. So how much experience the doctors have in treating DCS is another question. At least DAN has the experts available to consult with in the rare chance you need them. I believe they are used in treating of burns as well as other uses outside of just diving accidents.


you are correct, these inland chambers are for burns and other slow healing wounds. The only one in N Texas is two blocks from my house but they know nothing about pressure related injuries there. They would not know how to treat me if I walked in with DCS and I would have to wait for a week to get an appointment probably since they are the only ones around. DAN would at least tell them what to do if I needed it.




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