Travel insurance: $213,380 says you need it when traveling abroad

Why buy travel insurance? Cajya Darling, 28, was on vacation in Cancun in October with her husband when she had difficulty breathing.

A trip to a local hospital revealed she had a collapsed lung, and a check of her health insurance revealed she was covered, so the Mexico doctors recommended she stay there for six to eight weeks to see if her lung would heal on its own, according to Darling.

Not wanting to wait for nature to take its course, her family quickly paid $28,940 for Angel MedFlight to fly her to a hospital in Texas for treatment. The total bill for the air ambulance service was $213,380, a fee Darling expects her insurer to cover because the hospital in Mexico where she stayed is based in Florida.