RESEARCH, EDUCATION & MEDICINE
By the early 1980s, learning to scuba dive was becoming mainstream.
After the recession of the mid-1970s, people with good-paying jobs and increasing opportunities to travel were exploring untouched reefs with brand-new scuba gear strapped to their backs. DAN was created in 1980 to connect injured divers with experts who could help get them the care they needed.
The medical professionals answering the phone at DAN were able to direct injured divers from anywhere in the world to the closest facility that could provide appropriate treatment, but emergency room visits could be expensive even in the 80s, and recompression treatment often cost much more. Hospitals, especially those in remote locations, were often reluctant or unable to accept divers’ primary health insurance. Even if a diver found a facility that accepted their medical insurance, language in those policies would often limit or exclude coverage because the diver was injured while participating in an adventure sport.
Some divers struggled to cover the costs of their treatment. Recognising that helping divers involved helping them cover the costs of evacuation and chamber treatment, DAN created membership and dive accident insurance programmes in 1983. Some in the insurance industry thought the programme would fail. Why create a programme to cover an inherently risky activity that might incur expensive medical treatments? The reality of insuring divers was unappealing to most underwriters, but fortunately DAN’s goal was to help divers, not turn a profit. It still is.
DAN dive accident insurance was created by divers for divers. The divers who created the programme understood that the risks of scuba diving could be managed with proper training and adherence to standards, but they also knew that accidents can happen despite the best efforts to prevent them. DAN staff are experts in dive medicine, safety and research, and they do it all to teach divers how to keep their diving incident-and accident-free.
As divers themselves, DAN staff saw firsthand the necessity for dive accident insurance and designed plans to meet divers’ unique needs. Other companies may offer some coverage for dive injuries, but many impose unrealistic and restrictive limits on their coverage, such as a shallow depth limit. Some impose benefit limits that don’t begin to address the cost of treatment or evacuation.
Between membership and insurance benefits, DAN covers divers for the real situations they face when doing what they love. When you call DAN for assistance, you are connected with DAN’s medical services staff of physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics and other medical professionals. No other dive accident insurance programme offers such a service. While all insurance companies are legally obligated to pay claims, only DAN provides a 24/7/365 dive emergency hotline staffed by the best in dive medicine.
Others might be there when you get home; DAN will be there to ensure you get the help you need to get home. Since their implementation, DAN dive accident insurance programmes have served not only divers but also the entire community. From the beginning, DAN has reinvested profits from membership fees and dive accident insurance premiums to make the world a safer place to dive – and we still operate that way today.
Profits from DAN’s programmes are reinvested in the DAN Foundation, which supports the 24/7 DAN Emergency Hotline, DAN Research, the Recompression Chamber Assistance Programme, DAN Training, oxygen unit and automated external defibrillator (AED) grants, and continuing medical education courses for medical professionals who specialise in dive medicine.
Divers worldwide rely on DAN for guidance to prevent injuries and accidents when they dive, and we can provide this guidance thanks to the support of our members.
Dive accident insurance is just one of the many programmes we offer to keep divers protected, and because of our mission to serve divers, we are dedicated to keeping these programmes affordable.
DAN became the world’s leading dive safety association through its dedication to helping divers and by giving divers the coverage and resources that no one else can offer. We will continue to lead by helping divers whenever they need us.