Insurance is intended to protect the insured against loss, primarily the property of the insured, or to protect the assets of the insured against loss due to liability -- the latter of which is generally determined by the courts.
What's the risk of loss when you're riding a bicycle? Determine that and you'll know which insurance to get.
- If your primary risk is to your health -- usually loss of income due to injury/illness -- insure for that.
- If your risk includes loss of personal property in excess of easy replacement value -- such as a multi-thousand dollar bicycle -- insure for that.
- And if you have sufficient assets that #1 and #2 are significant concerns, you may also be at risk of liability and may need insurance to protect your assets against lawsuits from folks who hit you with their vehicle and then sue you for denting their fender and causing them pain and suffering in the form of feeling somewhat miffed, peevish and semi-guilty for having struck you.
The problem occurs when the government complicates and obfuscates the concept by making insurance mandatory. Arguably, mandatory insurance is no longer insurance. It's a bond, surety, hidden tax or something else, but it isn't insurance.
Texas acknowledges this verbal mendacity by technically referring to mandatory vehicle "insurance" as "proof of financial responsibility" and accepts a surety bond in lieu of "insurance". Arguably this is a good thing, as it establishes a precedent for creative and legal surety bonds in situations where genuine insurance isn't readily available.
So don't mistake mandatory minimum "insurance" for the type of real insurance intended to protect your assets -- your health, property, and valuables against liability. Mandatory minimum "insurance" is for serfs like me who have poor health, no assets and little or nothing to lose other than the prospect of imprisonment for failure to pay hidden taxes, surcharges, fees (as in fealty), pre-paid penalties and various forms of sanctioned bribes for engaging in activities that are lawful for free people but which the government would prefer we not do, as such activities do not directly benefit the feudal lords.
