[wdfifteen]

Matt, insurers are less able to pick and choose who they cover now. Before, we had a pool of people with no insurance (mostly sick) and a pool of better-off people with cheap insurance (people healthy enough to have jobs). When nearly everyone is covered by insurance, the sick as well as the healthy, of course premiums are going to go up. The uninsured got health care before, it was just paid for by others through bankruptcy, govt programs, higher costs for the insured, etc.
Catastrophic insurance is a way to protect your assets from huge medical bills while paying more of the cost of health insurance out of your pocket. The more people who pay directly and actually see and care what health providers are charging, the more they will shop around and put pressure on providers to lower costs. Market forces are going to be more of a factor in health care pricing, so prices should come down. Until then it's going to suck.