You shouldn't be paying for things you don't understand -- but you're trying to fix that.
Here's an illustration:
Both my husband and I have a small amount of life insurance through our work (no cost to us). Mine is one year's salary, and his is a little more. Before we had kids, that was adequate because if one of us had died, the other would still have been working. That insurance money would've been enough to pay for a funeral and to pay off most of the house.
Once we had our first child, our insurance needs increased. With two of us working and caring for the kiddo, we had ample resources . . . But if one of us had died, the other would have been faced with the loss of one income, but the same mortgage AND that remaining spouse would have needed to hire more child care, perhaps house cleaning, etc. This would've eaten through our savings in a hurry. The answer was additional life insurance. When the kids were small, we were each insured for about $500,000. This would've been enough for the remaining spouse to pay off the house, put aside college money, and hire help while the children were still young. Today our kids have one foot out of the house, we both earn more money, and college funds are sitting in the bank. Also, if either of us died, the other would get his or her 401K money. Either of us could "make it" just fine without financial help . . . It's really time for us to drop life insurance. For us, the risk is no longer worth the premiums we're paying.
A related topic: Disability insurance. You are statistically more likely to be disabled than to die young. And the real nightmare scenario isn't that one spouse dies. The real nightmare scenio is that one spouse is injured, runs up medical bills, needs continued therapies . . . Yet cannot work and cannot care for the children. No, it won't happen to many people; that's why the insurance is pretty affordable, but it's something against which you should protect yourself.
Your homework:
1. Think through how much money you would need in the unlikely situation that your husband died.
2. Same thing, but what would he need if you died?
3. Look into lower rates. I feel sure you can do better.