Many divers / divemasters / dive center owners / instructors have asked me questions like below over the years.
Is it important / mandatory to have a dive insurance in the Dominican Republic?
Does it cover me?
Which one should I take?
Is it mandatory to be able to teach?
Well, let’s review some important key points.
Just to be correct we need to say that in the Dominican Republic, insurance is not mandatory and you, as dive professional, can also teach PADI courses, if you are not insured. However, dive centers must be insured to be officially registered with the Ministery of Tourism. This leads to a clear reccomendation: if you are in vacation, pick up a registered dive center to go scuba diving, don’t dive with an independent instructor, outside the ‘official path’, since he may not be insured at all. Dice Centers also normally require their instructors to be insured.
DAN and Aqua Med are most probably among the most popular and reliable Insurance Companies in the world, with different plans suitable for every need.
Now let’s get to the point.
DAN US
DAN US only accepts residents of the USA and Canada, while if you are a resident of the Dominican Republic you should be able to contact DAN World. Specifically, each DAN organization offers different insurance policies and under different conditions. We always recommend that you contact the organization that you want to choose to be insured directly and check the latest regulations.
For Europeans
Limited to the conditions of DAN Europe, the insured must declare his permanent residence address, the one where he officially resides and where he is covered by the National Health Service or another health insurance. The country of residence is also the country where repatriation would be carried out, if necessary, following a serious accident. It does not necessarily coincide with the country where you work as an instructor or dive.
The declared country of residence is very important from an insurance point of view, so make sure this option is checked while purchasing your insurance. If you don’t know how to do it please send us an email
– Plans mainly cover diving-related medical emergencies worldwide, including country of residence, for 12 months, while the more limited non-diving medical emergency package will only be valid outside your country of residence for leisure trips or trips related to the activity of diving instructor /divemaster and for a limited number of travel days per year (60, 90 or 120 depending on the plan chosen, unless the Travel no limits option is added, which extends it to the whole year);
Travel days are calculated from the moment you leave the declared country of residence. For completeness, if you are already abroad at the time of subscription or renewal, the day on which the country of residence was last left is taken into account, not the start date of the policy. Eg: if you activate a Silver plan when you have already been abroad for 10 days, the non-diving coverage is reduced to 80 days a year.The days can be used for a single trip of up to 90 days or for multiple trips during the insurance period of a total duration of up to 90 days.
– Repatriation, if necessary, is carried out to the declared country of residence, where it is necessary to benefit from health insurance. The coverage you obtain through DAN Europe only covers the emergency phase (for example, treatment after repatriation or extended treatment must be covered through your primary insurance) and does not cover it for non-diving accidents in the country of residence;
– Liability and legal expenses coverage can be purchased by residents of some countries, mainly in the European Union. If an instructor resident in Italy or any other EU country subscribes to a Pro, he could work in the Dominican Republic and the civil liability would work for him.
For example, with DAN Pro plans are valid worldwide, including the Dominican Republic, with the exception of third party liability coverage which is not applicable in the United States and Canada.
Be careful though. If an instructor resident in Europe signs up for a Pro plan, he can also use it in the Dominican Republic. However, if the instructor is a resident in the Dominican Republic, he or she cannot purchase a Pro plan. Check here some statistics that will tell you how safe Dominican Republic is in terms of dive safety.
Is everything clear now? And do you have an insurance that covers you and your divers?
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