This blows my mind as well. Our marriage is a 100% open book, and as a nonworking spouse since our kids were born, I made SURE I was running the finances in our household because I was not going to end up one of those clueless spouses if something happened to my husband (military with numerous combat deployments scared me into this mindset).
In my opinion, LIFE INSURANCE should be the #1 priority for anyone who supports anyone else financially. Too many people die either uninsured or underinsured and it's so tragic when that happens and the people left behind struggle because of it. We have plenty of life insurance on each of us (because we have special needs children, it was doubly important). We have stacked term policies, and took out brand new, 7 figure, 30 year term policies when we turned 40 that will carry us through age 70, by which point our investments should exceed the insurance payout. It is literally costing us a couple hundred dollars a month, total, for all 4 insurance policies we have.
Buy early, max out your coverage, is what everyone should do who has others that depend on them.