A. You should consider purchasing travel insurance if you can't afford to lose the money you invested in the vacation or if you can't cover unexpected medical and emergency costs at your destination.

Most comprehensive travel insurance policies offer three types of coverage — financial reimbursement for trip cancellation or lost baggage, medical coverage and emergency medical transportation. You can also buy a la carte coverage from some insurers.

The cost of the policies depends on the type of coverage, your destination, your age and gender and the cost of your trip.

A number of unforeseen circumstances can cancel or interrupt your vacation: bad weather, an unexpected illness, a sudden death in the family, even jury duty.  Travel insurance with a reimbursement provision keeps you from swallowing the costs for airline tickets, vacation tours and hotel reservations.

Any time you would incur a loss from nonrefundable purchases, you should have travel insurance. If you're paying $5,000 or $6,000 per person, what is $600 more?

Additionally, travel insurance reimburses lost baggage during a missed flight connection or other situation. However, you may want to check with your credit card companies and homeowner's insurance to see if they also cover lost belongings.

Many travelers don't realize their company or personal medical insurance may stop at the U.S. border. So does government-funded health insurance. The time to find out that your health insurance doesn't cover you isn't when you are sitting in the emergency room.

But travel insurance with a medical care provision can pick up the tab and give you peace of mind while you vacation. Many of these insurance policies also have 24-hour assistance line to help you locate doctors or lawyers if you need one.

One of the biggest reasons to buy travel insurance is for emergency transportation out of an underdeveloped country and into one with adequate medical facilities.  That price tag can skyrocket the farther away you travel. The cost of a medical lift out of Australia or China? $100,000, according to Greenwald.

A commercial flight isn't much cheaper, especially if you or your traveling companion is confined to a stretcher.  Airlines may require the purchase of four first-class tickets to fit the stretcher. The bill for that? $30,000.

No one thinks that anything will happen to them, so be sure you are covered.  Remember, you can't purchase it after the accident has occurred, so purchase it as soon as possible.