oh I do believe it can be extened or renewed for real world cash. I don’t doubt they won’t pull that trick at all.
Also, if you pay attention to SC, you don’t buy the ships. you’re not buying ships when you throw down 200 to 1000 dollars, you’re pledging to the game. they outright tell you that. the ships you get are simply a “gift” for pledging like you would if you got an elmo doll when you pledged to PBS. so you could absolutely lose those ships for good if you don’t renew insurance. There wouldn’t be any negative press because SC would just say “yeah, you don’t pay for the ships, they’re gifts from pledging to the game”
In EVE though (20 year player here) you’re not spending real world money unless you’re buying PLEX. and EVE insurance doesn’t pay out anywhere near the value of the ship or mods, it doesn’t even cover mods. You’re also not paying money to directly buy ships or pledge to the game. you can buy PLEX to pay for skill boosting, omega time, or whatever else. And even after all that CCP doesn’t force you to pay to simply play the game or pay further to get more out of it. you can play the game just fine on an Alpha account.