Scuba Diving Travel Insurance Keeps Your Head Above Water
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Your regular medical insurance will help with a local scuba accident, but you need scuba diving travel insurance for foreign trips. Scuba diving goes against human survival instincts by allowing humans to stay underwater safely for long periods of time. In other words, scuba gear keeps a person from drowning. The goal of travel insurance is to protect you while you are in a different country, whether you are scuba diving or doing any other activity.
If your regular health insurance does not cover you in a foreign country, talk to your insurance agent about scuba diving travel insurance. Tell the agent where you will be traveling and what you will be doing. The agent will suggest a policy that can cover foreign medical expenses. The cost will likely be much higher than your normal insurance. If you are only going on a single trip, try to limit the duration of the scuba diving travel insurance to the time of the trip. If you have several trips planned, it is safer to leave the scuba diving travel insurance policy in place until all trips are complete.
Inquire of the embassy or tourism board of the foreign country as to what kinds of scuba diving travel insurance might be required by law. You may need to have specific coverages in place, for specific coverage amounts. As with any insurance, learn what incidents are covered and which are not. Ambulance service or helicopter life flights might not be covered by your overseas scuba diving travel insurance.
Bring copies of all your scuba diving travel insurance documents with you on the trip. Bring any prescription medicines you will need, as well as a list of any medicines with which your prescriptions are incompatible. Don't forget your personal identification, as well as the names and numbers of family and doctors back home who can be contacted during a medical emergency. Your scuba diving travel insurance won't help much if you receive the wrong treatment.
Scuba diving presents its own set of hazards. Drowning is one, but insurance won't help with that! Typical injuries might include the bends from diving too deep. This illness requires decompression therapy in specialized apparatus. You might experience bites or stings from eels, jellyfish, or even sharks. Stingrays and their venomous barbed tails can appear invisible to the diver. Cuts, scrapes and bruises from rocks and coral are less serious injuries, unless the blood attracts sharks!
Your scuba diving travel insurance can cover more injuries than just those from scuba diving. The goal is to make sure your insurance policy is effective in the country you'll be visiting, and that you bring all necessary documentation to prove you are insured. Whether you are above or below the water, scuba diving travel insurance is always a good idea.
Copyright 2007 Jim Sterling - All Rights Reserved
| Many countries no longer accept travelers checks Q: We just got back from Puerto Vallarta. Interesting fact: Banks, money exchange places and resorts were not willing to cash American Express Travelers Cheques. Whats up with that?.. |
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