When it comes to money, few topics trigger more frustration than insurance. We don’t like paying for it, we don’t like being told we have to buy it, and we certainly don’t like watching premiums rise year after year.
Yet when disaster strikes—a car crash, a house fire, or a medical emergency—insurance becomes the one thing standing between financial stability and financial ruin.
So why do we resent something that protects us? And how can we shift that frustration into smarter financial thinking?
Insurance expert Karl Susman, host of The Insurance Hour, tackles this emotional conflict directly, explaining why our resentment toward mandatory coverage is both understandable—and often misplaced.
The Psychology of Being “Forced”
At the heart of insurance resentment is a simple human emotion: nobody likes being forced to do anything.
“Being forced to do something is probably on my top ten list of least favorite things,” Susman says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s good for me—I don’t want it forced on me.”
Yet much of modern life involves mandatory insurance:
- Homeowners insurance is required if you have a mortgage.
- Auto insurance is required by law to drive.
- Health insurance, while not always legally required, is financially unavoidable for most people.
These requirements exist to prevent financial chaos for individuals, lenders, and society. But psychologically, the loss of choice triggers resistance. We associate freedom with autonomy—so when autonomy disappears, even smart decisions feel imposed.
Insurance as a Condition of Borrowing
Buying a home is one of the clearest examples of how insurance becomes “mandatory.”
When a lender loans you hundreds of thousands of dollars, they want their collateral—your house—protected. If the home burns down without insurance, their investment is lost. So fire insurance is required for as long as the mortgage exists.
From the homeowner’s perspective, it feels like coercion. From the lender’s perspective, it’s basic financial prudence.
The same rule applies to car loans. Until the vehicle is paid off, the bank technically owns it. If it’s totaled, they still expect repayment. That’s why lenders require comprehensive and collision coverage and may even dictate deductible limits.
It isn’t personal. It’s structural. Insurance is simply the cost of borrowing large sums of money.
Health Insurance: A Soft Mandate With Hard Consequences
Health insurance is often viewed as optional—until you actually need medical care.
“If you get sick or injured, you can go to the hospital—insured or not,” Susman points out. “But that bill? You’ll still have to pay it.”
Without insurance, medical costs can quickly hit bankruptcy-level numbers. A single hospital stay, surgery, or major diagnosis can create six-figure debt, especially for uninsured patients who lack access to negotiated rates.
Even when insurance isn’t legally required, the financial pressure makes it a practical necessity. You either pay predictable premiums or risk catastrophic, unpredictable costs later.
Earthquake and Flood Insurance: Optional Until It Isn’t
Some of the most dangerous gaps in protection come from optional insurance.
In California, earthquake insurance is not required—even in one of the most seismically active regions in the country. After major quakes, homeowners without coverage often rely on disaster loans or limited government aid to rebuild.
Susman frames the decision clearly: pay a few thousand dollars a year for coverage, or borrow hundreds of thousands after a loss and repay it for decades.
Flood insurance follows the same pattern. Lenders require it in high-risk zones, but floods don’t follow maps. Many homeowners outside designated flood areas learned that the hard way during recent storm and atmospheric river events.
Optional insurance often becomes “mandatory in hindsight.”
When “Can’t Afford It” Becomes “Can’t Recover”
One of the cruelest truths about insurance is that the people who struggle most to afford coverage are also the least able to recover without it.
Skipping insurance to save money creates a dangerous double risk:
- You couldn’t afford the premium.
- Now you can’t afford the loss.
“You can’t afford the insurance, so you skip it,” Susman explains. “Then a loss happens, and you can’t afford to rebuild. You’re hit twice.”
Public disaster aid is limited. Loans must be repaid. Insurance, by contrast, is designed to restore—not punish. It exists to prevent the financial cliff that follows catastrophe.
The Emotional Cost of Premium Increases
Even when people understand the purpose of insurance, resentment intensifies when premiums rise.
California homeowners and drivers have seen rates double or triple in recent years, tempting many to assume the increases are driven by greed.
But Susman stresses that premium hikes are data-driven. “If your premium goes up, that means the insurance company’s data shows your risk has gone up too.”
Wildfire frequency, accident rates, construction costs, medical expenses, and weather patterns all feed into actuarial models. When risk rises across the system, premiums must follow.
Understanding that logic doesn’t make the bill easier to pay—but it does reframe the increase as a reflection of risk, not arbitrary pricing.
When the Loan Is Gone, the Risk Isn’t
Ironically, the moment many people drop insurance is when they finally pay off their home.
After decades of making mortgage and insurance payments, the homeowner celebrates being “free” of forced coverage and tries to save money by canceling their policy.
“That’s exactly backwards,” Susman warns. “Now that your home is 100% yours, every dollar of its value is your asset. Why stop protecting it now?”
When the house was mortgaged, a loss was partly the bank’s problem. Once it’s owned outright, the entire financial risk belongs to the homeowner. Dropping coverage at that moment exposes decades of equity to a single disaster.
Resentment vs. Reality: A Rational Reframe
Insurance resentment is emotional, not irrational. It comes from the tension between autonomy and responsibility.
Susman suggests reframing the relationship with insurance:
- Don’t see it as a tax or penalty.
- See it as a membership fee in a financial safety network.
- Recognize that high premiums usually reflect high risk.
- Understand that being “forced” often aligns with your long-term financial interest.
“Just because something is forced doesn’t mean it’s bad,” Susman says. “Sometimes the smartest choices are the ones that also happen to be required.”
Key Takeaways
Mandatory doesn’t mean unnecessary. Coverage is required because it protects both lenders and consumers.
Optional insurance often makes financial sense. Earthquake, flood, and umbrella policies can be essential depending on risk.
Premium increases are driven by real-world data. Rising rates usually reflect rising losses and costs.
Don’t drop coverage when loans are paid off. That’s when asset exposure is highest.
Separate emotion from logic. Feeling forced is unpleasant—but it doesn’t make the protection unwise.
Final Thoughts: Freedom Through Protection
Insurance often feels like an imposed burden, but in reality, it is a tool of financial freedom. It gives you the ability to recover, rebuild, and move forward without relying on loans, charity, or luck.
The next time you resent being “forced” to buy insurance, remember that the real purpose isn’t compliance—it’s control. Control over your assets, your future, and your peace of mind.
“The minute you stop being forced,” Susman says, “that’s when you should want it most.”
