Something similar happened to me a few days back with my newly acquired type 6. I buy it, I make the neccesary modifications, buy out a full cargo to start trading. This thing left me with around 80k Cr (at least it was barely covering the insurance, thank God!)
So, I attempt to get out of the station and while I was within the "narrow bluish foggy thing" at the exit, I got hit by an other ship out of nowhere. I lost control crushing around and left with 20% hull (no shields equiped) and at the same time the station began count down. Long story short, I didn't make it alive.
I got back the ship via the insurance but lost all of my cargo and my money with it. So I sold the type 6 and bought back the cobra to save some cash for my cargo purchase.
There are risks which can take you back to zero, sure. But you can proactively deal with them (most of them) and personally I think these types of misfortunes make the game more addicted.
Man, I was in a similar situation when I got my Type 6. x3 Had enough to cover the insurance, of course, but aaaaaaall the rest of my monies went into the ship and cargo, for a three-jump run. Thankfully, in my case it didn't end with horrible destruction, but dear God I was wound up like a spring from the moment I left the departure dock til the moment I arrived at my destination, and was safely nestled in the hanger. ....unfortunately, it took half a dozen or so such runs to develop much of a financial cushion, so ALL those runs were similarly tense. Exciting, yet at the same time if I had lost that cargo, I might have cried. x3 Even with the ship back, I wouldn't have had monies for cargo, and would have had to sell it to switch back to a Viper.
On the original topic, sure, insurance is generally paid before disaster. But insurance plans on, say, a vehicle also involve repeated payments over a period of time, with the payments increasing in size depending on whether you end up needing to cash in. Get in an accident, your premium could very well go up, sometimes considerably. In fact, the entire point of the insurance that 'makes sense' is that the company providing it is making a profit, which means squeezing the consumer to make sure that, as a whole, they're getting more money than they're giving; you're not just paying them for that one day your ship gone blown up, for example. You're also paying them on the other fifteen days your ship DIDN'T get blown up. Go six months without getting blown up? Too bad, still paying insurance! Because if you STOP paying that insurance, and then die... well, it's back to zero for you!
Now, if the folks against the current system don't mind paying more money, (probably significantly more money) over the long run for a new, 'realistic' insurance plan, then okay! Let's make that an option, I guess, you guys can have the money taken from your account every so often, regardless of whether or not you die, and anyone who doesn't want to pay that premium can simply opt to remain with the pay-on-death plan. But somehow I doubt many people balking at 'pay on death' insurance want to go so far as 'pay several times as much' insurance either.
As for the case of OP, if you died with 2900 credits... I mean, man, it isn't even the whole 'save money for insurance thing,' it's actually obvious that you made a CONSCIOUS decision to spend that money.
Rather than just losing track and being slightly, or even moderately, below the required balance. I can see no way a person can just forget to keep several hundred thousand credits on hand, so since this isn't a case of the game being too obtuse for you to recognize what you were doing, and since by extension it was a situation into which you willingly entered (fully aware of the consequences) I really do have to join the general chorus of 'Only Yourself To Blaaaame!'
Now, I DO believe that steps should be taken, (similar to the preflight checklist,) to make sure brand new players are aware that this rule exists. Not a hand holding reminder throughout the game, mind you, but just a clear and unavoidable 'DON'T BE AN IDIOT' PSA at the beginning that will help any newbies accustomed to a slightly more cushiony death penalty.
