Get steamrolled by who? Insurers are in the business of mitigating risk by paying out on unforeseeable losses. There are more than enough people who purchase private non-commercial insurance for them to make a profit, why should they or the insurance companies' shareholders subsidize the people who want to engage in commercial activity but don't want to pay the costs of doing things to commercial standards? You don't get isnurance because of the low risk of bad things happening, you get it because of the potential liabilites on the rare occasions when they do.

Say someone is at an AirBnB, falls down the stairs, breaks his/her neck, and is paralyzed. AirBnB's million dollars of coverage may not be enough to meet the medical costs of such an injury, to say nothing of other damages. So the injured party's lawyer and/or medical insurers will go after the host's homeowner's insurance or else after the host's property or income stream.

Hotels aren't expensive because all hotel owners are greedy people intent on bleeding their customers dry (although such owners exist); to a large extent they reflect the significant costs of doing business.

Why? Owning and home and living in it present different risks than owning a home and renting it out. Likewise, driving a car for personal use is different than driving it for hire.

Home owners and car owners need to be upfront and honest with their insurance companies.