The insurance industry wouldn't exist if that was true. The whole profit there comes from the bias for the insurer.
b) Can you give some specific examples? I'm using State Farm as a place-holder for "large insurance company". They had one really bad year recently where they "only" made 9 figures in net income.
Insurance companies are extremely profitable. Their losses in bad years are more than offset by gains in good years.
In other locations, insurances are not all about profit and reinsurance. Either they're public operated by the government, or they're private and have caps on how much they can charge compared to how much they return and they don't get to choose what they can cover or not.
I am pretty sure my last insurance was directly financing the government. I suppose it makes sense to store billions of euros long term (until a disaster) into dedicated government bonds, which benefits both the government and the company. That is to say, the money fits a larger purpose in the meantime, it's not all evil.
Such a bold statement
Actuaries spend their careers making these bets. That's why no insurance company will take a policy on a "sure thing".
If she had taken on a similar bet in a market where insurance policies were bundled and sold, instead of a "credit default swap" you'd have a "on-time default swap" and it would be completely legal.
But there isn't such a market, so she effectively made one for herself by using false identities and the arbitrage of being able to pick and choose when she would take her side of the swap.