Yeah it’s wild, the week following a thunderstorm with hail I would get 3 or more door to door roofers every day trying to assess the roof to get insurance to pay for a replacement. I don’t know anyone in Florida who paid out of pocket to replace their roof.
I’m pretty sure I have read that after you transition your Apple ID to an iCloud login that you are stuck with that.
I have been considering moving as well because Gmail doesn’t work well with Apples mail app, but I’m not sure I want my Apple ID permanently stuck to iCloud.