If you deposit in an FDIC-insured bank, the bank pays premiums to the FDIC so you are "paying" in the sense that that money might otherwise be used as interest

If you deposit in an FDIC-insured bank, the bank pays premiums to the FDIC so you are "paying" in the sense that that money might otherwise be used as interest on your deposit (but let's be honest it probably wouldn't). Moreover, the advantages that come with FDIC insurance are more than worth it to the banks (otherwise they wouldn't participate) so on the whole they probably have more money under FDIC than they would without it. Part of the problem is that people think "It's a Wonderful Life" describes how banks work (banks take deposits and lend them out) but that hasn't been true for almost a century (because of exactly what happens in "It's a Wonderful Life"). Weirdly the deposits a bank has aren't really important to the bank's health one way or the other; they're just the regulatory price the bank pays for being allowed to originate loans.