Apparently, USPS is sending back error messages on Domestic over $5000 rather than the portion of the order that they do Insure so setting that:
Code:
// turn off SpecialServices
$specialservices = '';
turns off all requests for SpecialServices ...

On International, it does not return Insurance either, but rather than send back an error, they just do not send back the ExtraService request for Insurance ...

I am talking to USPS about how better to address this issue and hope to hear that we can work out better solutions ...

NOTE: Currently, there is some issue since March 7, 2014 where their server is not managing the quotes right and you will get no quotes from USPS ...
If your logs happen to be on, you will see the message:
Code:
Mar 28 2014 23:31:49 -- CommErr (should be 0): 56 - Recv failure: Connection reset by peer
Usually, just trying the get the quote again should fix it for now, while USPS is trying to figure out the cause of this issue ...

Hopefully the next update for USPS will have fixes for these issues built in ...

Thanks for letting us know that this work around has resolved your issues for now ...