"Health insurance" should only cover catastrophic events, as in serious illnesses like cancer.  Everyday health issues should be out of pocket (using pre-tax income until we get rid of individual income tax): pay for what you use, and use any provider you want.

Once there's actual competition in the market for health care, prices will go down.  As it stands, prices go up because there's no mandate from the market to keep them low.  This is the only way to keep health care costs in check.

Example: When my kid was born, the billed cost was north of $10k, of which I only paid $2k (under my current plan, I'd basically pay my deductible).  The cost was probably inflated due to no market competition, but the remaining $8k+ had to come from somewhere.  My medical premiums don't cover it, unless my family were to make no usage of medical services for three years, and that'd just be breaking even.  The cost was subsidized by the risk pool that the insurance companies pass along in their premiums.  TANSTAAFL.

It's strange how a concept that was initially invented to hedge against risks for investors has been jury-rigged to function in the capacity of health care.