According to the Tampa Tribune a man was put ashore during his birthday cruise because the doctor decided that he had internal bleeding and was far safer ashore than on a cruise.

Of course the man didn't take the travel or health insurance and was out of pocket $2500 to get back to Tampa. Personally my first question is... what the heck is an 89 year old man travelling without health or travel insurance?

Follow up:

The question is... how do I know how much I need and which insurance I need?

The answer isn't cut and dry, but I can make a few suggestions that can help.

Always buy travel health insurance... always! Health insurance comes in two forms, per-trip and per-annum. Per-trip insurance insures you for the days of your trip. Per-annum insurance insures you for a year for all trips up to a certain length. I carry an annual policy that covers trips up to 30 days.

Buy trip insurance when you can't afford to lose the total cost of the trip.

Take a deductible that you can afford. If you need to, get a credit card with a low limit that you can use to finance the deductible if required.

Remember that some credit cards offer insurance as well. Personally, I got my quotes from Kanetix.