Diving Insurance - Get Covered!
When someone mentions insurance people tend to turn off, however before planning a diving holiday or trip it is essential to fully prepare. The information here could save you money and maybe your life!
Although scuba diving is generally considered a safe pastime things can go wrong. When they do it can often cost a fortune to put them right it is therefore necessary to prepare fully for your dive. Dive insurance is like carrying a hospital, hyperbaric chamber and emergency flights around in your kit bag!
Standard medical bills for hyperbaric treatment are usually over $5000 per hour which can quickly push up the cost of a dive accident. That is why proper, comprehensive insurance cover while diving, especially whilst abroad is vitally important. There are many different types of insurance package available to divers in today’s market so it can often be difficult to choose the right one, however if you always plan for the worst case scenario you are best prepared.
Many insurance packages will offer medical cover of around $1,000,000 this seems like it would be more than adequate cover . However you have to take into account your individual circumstances such as a reported case of a diver on a live aboard in Indonesia who suffered a decompression accident and had to be air evacuated to the nearest recompression chamber in Townsville, Australia. Coupled with hyperbaric treatment, medical fees and repatriation. This saw medical bills sore into millions of dollars. So plan for the worst case scenario or you could be picking up the bill!
It can be that a simple insurance policy will be right for you, just choose the right cover to suit your needs.
Specialist diving cover will generally fall into 3 categories:
Standard Travel with Diving as an Extra
The most commonly available package and is basically a standard travel policy within which diving is covered. The diving cover provided is usually at a premium of 10 - 15 % extra on the insurance policy.
Standard Travel with Diving Included
A standard travel package, diving is included in the policy and price, there is therefore no extra premium to pay.
Medical
This is specialist insurance for medical expenses in the event of a diving accident. Anything outside of diving is not covered. This policy will cover you against the worst case scenario. This sort of insurance policy will often cover you for additional treatment when you are back in your home country. Medical insurance packages are usually sold in conjunction with a travel package. Good insurance cover of this variety will include an international assistance coordinator who will take care of your medical treatment, evacuation to an appropriate treatment facility and repatriation.
It is often worth while to steer clear of cheap insurance policies that will make you pay for your medical bills which you can then claim back at a later date. After all it is worth paying that little extra to make sure you health and life are properly protected.