Warhead,

If your plan is to get into the AMA anyway, just go get the trial membership for $19.95 (Honestly...if $20 is too much of a strain on your hobby budget, you're in the wrong hobby )

You can fill out the application at https://www.modelaircraft.org/trialmemberapp.aspx and the $19.95 you spend will be credited to your full membership later, meaning it's not 'wasted'. The trial membership is good for 3 FULL months, plus the remainder of the month you sign up in, meaning if you sign up today, the trial is good through July, then for ALL of August, September, and October. FIll out the online app, and you'll have your AMA # e-mailed to you within a week or less.

When you upgrade to the full membership, you'll only pay the difference, which, iirc, is about $35 more.

Now, as for the original topic, the answer, imo, is a resounding yes...it's worth it.

let's forget the magazine, or online benefits, or whatever...most of that stuff is junk imo.

Bottom line : Unless there is NO POSSIBLE WAY your aircraft could EVER injure/damage ANYONE or ANYONE'S property, the insurance alone makes this a no-brainer issue. Since flying by yourself is, at best, a dumb thing to do, then by definition, there should ALWAYS be at least one other person around who could, in a worst case, be injured by your plane. Given that, it's kinda a 'well duh' issue.

Just my $0.04 (adjusted for inflation)