EcoSea Dive Cambodia has always recommended that you bring to Asia scuba diving travel insurance when you come to South East Asia, especially Cambodia Vietnam and Thailand . Before coming to Cambodia, I worked for a Health and Life insurance company, and I bought the Dan Master insurance when I traveled to Asia to supplement my regular work insurance .
We recommend DAN Master Insurance or DAN Preferred plan, both of these scuba diving specific policies cover you regardless of the depth. These policies also cover evacuations, and DAN knows where the recompression chambers are, and the fastest way to get you there, Safely. DAN understands divers needs better than a regular insurance company, as they are a non profit organization dedicated to diver safety and dive research, and they can really be a lifesaver when you need the expert help, and these DAN policies for the coverage they provide are very cheap for the value you will get. The DAN Insurance is meant as a secondary coverage, so keeping your work insurance valid is a good idea.
Travel insurance plans
Most holiday travel specific insurance plans will allow some limited scuba diving, but they put restrictions on it, and unless you are an expert, chances are good that you could end up in a loop hole, and be denied coverage. Another thing to consider when you are getting your travel insurance, is that allot of times they will not cover you for what they call high risk activities, which we call fun, like riding on small motorcycles, or just about any high adrenalin sports like kite flying, parachuting and lots of other stuff like scuba diving.
In the US if your employed, and you have group insurance through work, the coverage will cover allot of times the high risk stuff that will not be covered by specialty travel insurance. The group work insurance companies can afford to do it, as the risk is spread over allot more people in a class, and most will not be doing fun stuff! So keeping your regular insurance when traveling, if you can, is a good idea. Most times if you are on sabbatical, or just on vacation your insurance can continue if you pay the premiums. Talk to your human resources department about this, they love to talk about stuff like this. If you lose your job, you may also be able to continue the insurance under the Cobra laws, a very good thing for you to look at closely when you are telling the boss to stick it.
Credit Cards
We have seen people refused time and again by the hospitals to accept travel insurance in Cambodia, it is cash only, so bring a credit card, with lots of limit, and a pin number. Believe me, your best bet is to get to Thailand or Singapore, and then back to your home country or to some place that understands dive medicine, as quickly as possible. Some credit cards have evacuation benefits if you are hurt while traveling, they might also have some legal help as well.
Some high end, and travel specialty credit cards, sometimes will have some coverage as well for other travel related stuff that can be useful, like getting your stuff replaced if it is ripped off, not a bad thing to review or consider when applying for a credit card.
