Hi Rob,
I'm puzzled by your implication that the magazine costs $75. The entire membership is $75, and I seem to recall that you could opt out of the magazine for a $9 or $10 reduction. So it seems it is $65 for everything else and $10 for the magazine.
As I recall the insurance was mainly there to make it more palatable for a land owner to allow a club to fly on his property. Depending on where you live this may or may not be much of a benefit. I live in the San Francisco Bay area and open land is at a premium so that perk seems to be valuable to me, well, not me actually, but my friends that still fly the bigger stuff. I just fly little park flyers now, and don't really need the insurance, and as I don't fly at a club site, so I don't think the insurance will cover me.
Regarding the AMA's motivation, I certainly wouldn't presume to dispute your characterization because I haven't researched it. Can you provide a reference?
Thanks.