Comment by JoshTriplett

That logic is reasonable if you can trivially afford 250k; in that case, you might choose to self-insure. However, that logic does not hold if the 1% event is not something you can afford.

Every dollar does not have the same incremental value. Going from $1B to $1B-$250k is not the same as going from $300k to $50k, and definitely not the same as going from $50k to -$200k.