Purchasing Excess Health Insurance for Diving Outside Canada.

By Robin Battley

Today's savvy diver knows how to plan the ultimate scuba diving adventure. Details including recommended diver skill level, charter boat layouts, accommodation and meal packages, rates, available rental equipment and sample itineraries for almost any dive site on the planet can all be downloaded from the Internet at the touch of a button. Want to know the climate, topography, historical notes of interest, local currency, anything at alljust touch another button. It's incredible. Another small detail, health insurance when scuba diving outside of Canada. Did you carefully arrange some for your next tropical diving extravaganza?

Most divers would say, "of course!", knowing that distances to hyperbaric facilities may be lengthy and travel slow. We've all heard stories of trying to find an "island" doctor in one's time of need. But when was the last time you considered out-of-country health insurance when you slipped across the Canada-USA border for a club dive or friendly get-together. Before you say, "I never go to the States for a dive", consider that the majority of Canada's population lives along the longest friendly border in the world. Divers from any province can hop across the line into nearby lakes, rivers and oceans in much the same time it takes to drive to local dive destinations. So let's consider health insurance. Are you covered in the event of a diving accident?

In most of Canada, health care is under the auspices of a province-wide organization. If hyperbaric treatment in a recompression chamber is medically required, it's covered by your monthly health care premiums. Fortunately, so is your ambulance ride to the cham ber. In other parts of Canada, except Quebec, reciprocal arrangements have been made with physicians and other health care services to provide you with medical coverage as needed during your visit. However, that air ambulance ride with which you were provided from a remote dive site, may not be covered. It's worth checking out.

When traveling outside of Canada, your employer's extended health care benefits may cover you and your family if scuba diving activities have not been excluded from the policy. Another option being used by more and more Canadian divers is membership in the Divers Alert Network, DAN. DAN is an American organization affiliated with Duke University, North Carolina. They are best known for their 24-hour dive accident hotline, their dive safety and medical information line and their dive medical research programs. DAN now extends insurance coverage to Canadian members diving in the United States and parts of the Caribbean. In the event of a diving accident, members need only follow the procedures provided where DAN makes all the arrangements including any necessary flights, chamber treatments and hospitalization.

And there is always excess health insurance coverage provided through the Canadian Automobile Associations or travel agents for divers not fitting into one of the above options. Often for as little as $1.00 per day, excess coverage will provide the medical services which might become important should an accident occur out-of-country. Provincial medical service plans only cover a small percentage of total fees for physicians and hospitalization outside of Canada.

The best advice one can receive about diving accident health coverage is "do your homework". Ask yourself the realistic questions What facilities will be available to me in the event of a diving accident? How much will it cost? What insurance coverage should I have to cover these costs? If I need more insurance, who do I contact to purchase an upgrade?

Now, it's time to pick up the phone book, have pen and paper at the ready and start dialing. Confirm that the travel insurance your travel agent recommends will cover scuba diving activities and any other sport you intend to participate in throughout your vacation. A common statistic quoted is that only one out of three insurance policies will not exclude scuba diving.

Today's diver is well-organized, educated and thorough in vacation planning. Arranging to have comprehensive insurance coverage when diving outside Canada is just another component in the overall strategy. Remember, plan your dive and dive your plan. It's that simple.