Travel insurance is designed to cover trip cancellation, trip interruption, emergency medical, loss of luggage, travel delay, baggage delay, accidental death and dismemberment and many other benefits.

For most trips, buying appropriate travel insurance is highly recommended and necessary. However, for some trips, it may not be worth it.

• Trips closer to home

  All travel insurance plans cover you only when you are going at least 100 or 150 miles away from home. Therefore, if you are traveling very close by, you can't buy travel insurance.

• Last-minute domestic trips

  If you are traveling domestically with no advance booking, you don't need travel insurance. You are not going to cancel the trip. Therefore, you don't need trip-cancellation insurance. And your domestic health insurance will cover you wherever you go in the United States.

• Low-cost domestic trips

  If you are going on a $99 flight for a long weekend to meet your family or friends within the United States and will stay with them, you don't need to buy travel insurance. Even if you have to cancel the trip, you don't have much to lose, and you can manage the losses.

  Again, your domestic health insurance will cover you for medical needs.

  Of course, you could get coverage for travel delay and loss of checked luggage, but the cost of travel insurance may not be worth the coverage.

• Affordable prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses

  If you can easily afford to lose your prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses, you don't need to purchase trip-cancellation insurance.

For all other trips, you should highly consider purchasing travel insurance.

In any case, if you are traveling internationally, you should buy travel insurance. For any medical emergencies overseas and emergency medical evacuation, travel medical insurance is necessary.

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  Travel Medical Insurance vs. Trip Cancellation Insurance

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Some people just think that their domestic medical insurance will cover them and that buying travel insurance is not necessary. However, it is critical to purchase international travel insurance.

Some people think that their credit card will provide the travel insurance and therefore buying separate travel insurance is not necessary. Unfortunately, credit card travel insurance can be quite limited. Thus, purchasing travel insurance from a third-party insurance company is recommended.

Few people consider purchasing travel insurance from a travel provider. However, buying cruise travel insurance from a cruise line is not a good idea.

It is the best to purchase travel insurance from a third-party comparison website such as this one, where you can get instant quotes from multiple products, compare them side by side and make an immediate purchase online.