Emergency Medical Insurance For Dive/Ski Travel
Since I cannot do much right after my hernia surgery, I’m using the time to plan, research and prep for future travels. One of the tasks is to shop for adequate emergency travel insurance for trips outside of Canada which will be many of my future trips. This is to cover any emergency medical accidents that will not be covered by OHIP.
In the past, I bought annual plans that cover multiple trips lasting around 14 days each trip pretty well each year I travelled ever since my international martial arts competition years. I actually did have to use my insurance coverage once when I was competing out of the country in Atlantic City one year where I tore the ACL in my left knee during competition. I got myself to the emergency room at the local hospital and was 100% covered for the visit which got me in to see only a nurse practitioner rather than a doctor. This was later billed at a whopping $800 US which the insurance covered.
Since pretty well all of my international travels will now involve either a skiing or scuba diving component, just any general emergency medical travel insurance plan out there will not meet my needs. This is because if you research the fine print of exclusions, sometimes snow skiing and scuba diving are not covered as they are deemed as high risk activities.
I shopped around and compiled a summary of different providers that offer emergency medical travel insurance plans and specifically looked into their coverage and exclusions regarding both snow skiing and scuba diving.
For Scuba Divers
We’ll start with DAN insurance since it is the most recommended dive travel insurance and upon research, they certainly offer the most comprehensive emergency medical insurance for scuba divers stating everything from decompression treatments to evacuations covered. I further confirmed with their agents that they do not have any dive depth limits for coverage.
To purchase DAN accident insurance, divers must purchase DAN memberships as well but the combined prices for these two components together are comparable to stand alone insurance plans by the other insurance providers. If I was traveling only for scuba diving and not snow skiing, then DAN insurance would be my first choice (I actually did purchase one of their plans but cancelled for a full refund within ten days due to the snow skiing exclusion).
The following providers did not specifically state scuba diving as a high risk activity exclusion and these were confirmed by their agents; CoverMe and RBC.
The following providers did specifically state that scuba diving is not a high risk activity exclusion as long as all dives are to a maximum of 30 metres; Blue Cross, Allianze and CIBC. TD does not state any limit on maximum dive depths but does state that all scuba divers must be certified by a recognized dive agency.
For Snow Skiers
The following providers did not specifically state snow skiing among their high risk activities exclusions; Blue Cross, CoverMe and RBC. I spoke to their agents to confirm that since snow skiing was not stated, then it their insurance plans will cover for ski trips.
The following providers specifically stated that snow skiing will be covered as long as skiing is within boundaries of ski resort trails; TD, CIBC and Allianze. CIBC and Allianze further clarifies that no heli skiing is covered.
DAN World travel insurance which was originally designed with dive travel in mind but does cover some accidents from non-diving activities state that all snow skiing is excluded from coverage.
Which Insurance Provider Did I Choose?
In the past, most of my emergency medical travel insurance went through CIBC. There were no limits on snow skiing and even when later on they limited it to staying within ski resort trails, this was still okay by me since I never went off piste during my ski trips.
Their scuba diving coverage was up to 30 metres depth or about 90 feet so technically this was in the border zone for me as some of my dives during my scuba trips did go to recreational depth limits over 100 feet.
The question of whether my dive computer would be checked if I ever had a dive accident from a deep dive or not is unknown and fortunately I have never had a dive accident. So again for just scuba diving coverage, my future insurance coverage would be better off with DAN. Personally, I think that if divers are planning to do deep dives, it could be hard to stay within 30 metres if an organized planned deep dive is to go over 100 feet. So if deep dives are to be included in a dive trip, I would recommend an insurance plan that does not have a 30 metre depth limit.
Of course in my case, I also travel for skiing so DAN would not be adequate in covering me for both dive and ski trips. I also have desires to do heli skiing one day so any plan that excludes this will not work for me either.
For this year, I ended up choosing CoverMe (by Manulife) since their agents confirmed that since both skiing and scuba diving are not specifically stated as part of their exclusions, then I would be covered. They also had a plan that covered 18 days maximum per trip for their multi-trip annual plan while other providers went to 16 days for about the same premium rates. The extra two days of coverage gives me some added flexibility especially if I have long overseas flights to take.
Somebody had suggested a provider called World Nomads to me and while they do include both skiing and scuba diving (with additional premiums required), they have only plans that cover single trips rather than annual plans that cover multiple trips for an entire year. I would want to purchase a plan that covers the year and be done with it.
For you, of course it will depend on your specific needs whether you are looking to be covered for dive trips, ski trips or both. Just make sure you confirm the exclusions of each plan you shop for.
