Homeowners insurance is typically quite literally required by the mortgage lender. As in, they will sue you if you don't maintain the minimum level of coverage, because it's a material beach of contract. And yes, many do check regularly.
This effectively limits it to people that own their homes outright, or corporate landlords that can self-insure.
In my area, it's standard to pay for home insurance (as well as property tax) through your lender for the term of your mortgage. A portion of your monthly mortgage payment goes into its own savings account, and they use that account to pay those bills when they come up.
That's bad. Don't do that. Major repairs are really expensive.
Also, this reeks of propaganda. You can't have a mortgage without also carrying insurance for at least the value of the principal. The mortgage terms on the note tend to stipulate how much coverage and what riders you must carry until the loan is paid. One does not simply, "not have insurance."
Insurers have pulled out of some communities. In those places, you can't actually buy insurance anymore except for a very expensive state-run high-risk plan.
Some of us actually own our homes and can choose whether or not we have insurance. That being said I am very glad that we do have insurance because we are currently looking at having to replace our entire 6 year old roof because of hail damage.
I'm happy for you that you're paid off. I refinanced, or I'd be nearly paid off by now myself. Ugh.
You probably also understand you're in a far minority among homeowners, and therefore my comments regarding lien holders and notes don't apply to you.
Sorry about your hail damage. Um, the climatology around all that isn't going to get better any time soon. Consider upgrades to ensure your investment against even more inclement weather down the road.