Dive Insurance Explained: What DAN and Travel Policies Cover

Does travel insurance cover scuba diving?

Often, but only inside limits that are easy to exceed without noticing. A certified diver on AXA's US plans is covered to 60 ft (18 m), which rules out a 25 m wreck dive. Aviva's UK scuba add-on stops at 30 m and needs an instructor or dive master with you. The wording below comes from the insurers' own policy documents and scuba pages. Our safety guides cover the medical side of the same risks.

DAN, which sells dive accident insurance itself, says many medical insurers will not cover diving injuries or will not cover you abroad, and that those that do may pay only a minimal amount for chamber treatment or refuse cover for dives deeper than 40 m (130 ft).

The small print that catches divers

Depth is only the first condition. Aviva's scuba add-on excludes any claim where the trip was booked mainly for scuba diving, a condition no liveaboard can meet. It also excludes enriched air (nitrox), solo, wreck, cave, cavern and ice diving, and any claim where you fly within 24 hours of completing a dive. That is stricter than the 18-hour minimum DAN recommends after multiple dives or multiple days of diving, explained in our flying after diving guide.

World Nomads lists no cover for search and rescue under any circumstances, or for ongoing medical costs once you are back in your home country. InsureandGo's scuba cover runs for up to 15 days of a trip, and Cover-More asks for an Open Water certificate or an instructor even on shallow dives. If you plan to dive nitrox (what it changes), find the words enriched air or nitrox in the policy before you rely on it.

What dive accident insurance pays for

The core is recompression treatment and getting you to a chamber. DAN America's dive accident plans cover hyperbaric chamber treatment, physician and hospital charges, and ambulance transport by ground, air or sea to the nearest hospital or chamber. They add accidental death and dismemberment, permanent disability, extra travel and accommodation when treatment delays your return, and diving equipment lost in a covered accident. DAN Europe's Sport plans list a 24/7 alarm centre, worldwide emergency treatment including hyperbaric therapy and hospitalisation, and evacuation including air ambulance.

That treatment is not a short appointment. DAN describes the common regimen, US Navy Treatment Table 6, as pure oxygen breathed at a pressure equal to 18 m (60 ft) of seawater, with air breaks, lasting just under five hours, with extensions as needed. Some divers need more than one treatment. StatPearls says recompression should start immediately and recommends a pressurised aircraft for urgent transfers, or a helicopter kept below 300 m (1,000 ft). Our decompression sickness guide covers the symptoms and first aid.

Some operators make cover a booking condition. Emperor Divers requires dive insurance and travel insurance for diving in Egypt and names recompression chamber treatment and air evacuation among the costs the cover must include. Nautilus Liveaboards lists medical and dive insurance with evacuation cover as mandatory for Socorro, and Aggressor strongly recommends dive accident and medical insurance for its Galápagos trips.

What hyperbaric treatment and evacuation cost

DAN America puts chamber treatment at US$330-1,000 an hour, plus medication and physician fees, with the total depending on the location, the facility and how many treatments are needed. Another DAN article calls US$800 an hour not unusual. One Table 6 runs just under five hours, so a single session at those rates comes to roughly US$1,600-5,000 before any other charges.

The figures below are DAN's own, published by an organisation that sells dive insurance. Prices change with country, facility and year.

DAN membership vs DAN dive accident insurance

They are two different products. DAN America's membership costs US$40 a year (Regular) or US$75 (Enhanced). It includes emergency medical transportation and travel assistance up to US$150,000 or US$500,000 when you are at least 50 miles (80 km) from home, a 24/7 emergency hotline and access to DAN's insurance. DAN states that membership alone does not cover the costs of a dive accident, which needs a separate dive accident plan.

The plans are Master (US$125,000 lifetime), Preferred (US$250,000 per occurrence) and Guardian (US$500,000 per occurrence). They pay 100% of eligible expenses as secondary cover, after any other valid insurance, including travel insurance. Preferred and Guardian add non-diving accident cover outside your home country, and Guardian adds named water sports and search and rescue. The membership's evacuation and travel assistance benefits apply only if you contact DAN TravelAssist, which then arranges the transport.

DAN is a group of independent regional organisations, and each works under its own country's insurance rules, so which DAN you can join depends on where you live. The figures above are for US residents.

DAN Europe and DiveAssure: how dedicated plans compare

DAN Europe sells membership and insurance together in its Sport plans. A 2020 article in its Alert Diver magazine listed Bronze at €60 a year, covering the initial acute phase of a recreational diving injury up to €50,000 for air and nitrox dives to 40 m. Silver, at €87, adds follow-up care and technical diving with no depth limit, although dives beyond 130 m need an approved plan. Gold, at €200, raises the limits. DAN Europe's FAQ says non-diving emergencies are covered only while you travel abroad, for a number of days set by the plan.

DiveAssure's international DiveSafe plan lists US$1,000,000 for emergency medical expenses and US$1,000,000 for evacuation and repatriation, with no depth limit and cover for mixed gases, rebreathers, cave and ice diving, provided you dive within your certification. It sells annual and short-term cover and says it pays service providers directly when possible.

No depth limit does not mean anything goes. DAN Europe's FAQ says cover stays valid below your certification depth only if you take the necessary safety measures and have the experience for that diving, and its magazine warns that divers who knowingly exceed DAN Europe's gas limits could risk their coverage.

Questions to check before you buy

Read the policy wording, not the sales page, and look for answers to these. Each one comes from a clause quoted above:

• Depth: what is the limit, and does it follow your certification card?
• Supervision: must an instructor or dive master be with you, and are unaccompanied or solo dives excluded?
• Dive types: are nitrox, wreck, cave or technical dives excluded? Aviva's scuba add-on excludes enriched air.
• Trip purpose and length: Aviva excludes trips booked mainly for diving and caps diving at 31 days; InsureandGo's scuba cover runs up to 15 days.
• Hyperbaric treatment: is it covered, up to what amount, and is the limit per occurrence or lifetime?
• Evacuation: is it included, and who must arrange it? DAN America's membership benefits apply only when DAN TravelAssist is contacted.
• Primary or secondary: DAN America's plans pay after other valid insurance, so keep the other policy's details too.
• Pre-existing conditions: DAN's Master plan excludes conditions treated or advised on in the 180 days before cover starts.
• Alcohol and drugs: DAN's Master plan excludes losses connected with alcohol or drugs not prescribed by a physician.
• Non-diving illness and accidents abroad: DAN Europe's Sport plans cover them only while travelling, for a set number of days.
• Flying after diving: Aviva excludes claims where you fly within 24 hours of a dive.
• Residence: which regional DAN or insurer can sell to someone living in your country?