If we were to increase our policy deductible from $500 to $2500 the premium savings would approach 30%. If your policy was $2500/yr you could be looking at a savings of as much as $750/yr. That would mean that after just 2.7 years you would be ahead of the game in premium savings!
Why do astronomers put telescopes in space? The Earth's atmosphere is about 120 miles thick and anything we see from the surface of the Earth is distorted by the water vapor and debris that is in the air.
Nonetheless, I would agree that astronomy does not have many practical benefits to people's lives. The reason we do astronomy, I think, is that people are interested in learning about it - humans want to know how the universe came into being, what our place in it is, and what other objects exist within it. Basically, we are curious, and astronomy enriches our lives that way.