I just don't see how this system will work for insurers in the long run -- I know I'm certainly not going to the Dr. unless I'm really sick. Somehow even yearly checkups seem to cost me over $500 so I delay those until they threaten to not renew prescriptions.
A $6000 deductible is basically a catastrophic policy, it discourages care which is perhaps the point. Of course if you have ever seen an uninsured ER bill then that $6000 suddenly looks comparably cheap.
How expensive will it all get before it breaks?
As an example (though I'm unsure if this is in particular a federal or state mandate in California), the maximum deductible for child delivery is much less than a typical policy's maximum deductible in the aggregate. Our deductible on our family policy is $3,500, I think; but we only had to cut a check for a fraction of that.
So when people say they have a $5,000 deductible, it absolutely does not mean that most care is entirely out-of-pocket. In fact, most routine preventative care has a very low deductible. Otherwise, as you said, it would basically be worthless to almost everybody.