That's one view of this - I'd say it's pretty cynical though... Reminds me of how people reacted to insurance when it was first being introduced to the broader population "gambling on human lives/death! terrible!!".

While it's true to some extent, insurance is indeed crucial: one of the counter-parties is meaningfully reducing the risk of catastrophe, or extremely detrimental outcome at the very least.

This can be extended to all sorts of events, including Covid, the economy, politics (Brexit had devastating consequences), hurricanes, etc.