In one presentation I saw, a company that introduced a high-deductible plan saw utilization drop by the 13% the first year. People do use more services when they don't have to pay for it themselves.
On the other hand, I think the patients would feel more "cared for."
I've belonged to an HMO for almost thirty years. My family and I have been discouraged (by the folks manning the telephone banks) from seeing our doctors for very serious conditions far more often than would happen if there hadn't been a sort of "HMO-triage" system set up.
One time we received a call, asking if my son didn't want to cancel a long-awaited appointment to see his urologist. The "nurse," who called me, told me that she thought the positive test results on my son's kidneys (IVP?, Ultrasound?---can't remember which) didn't mean anything. She said such positive results were common. My son has ongoing kidney problems. At the time she called he already had undergone serious surgery to remove a huge staghorn calculus. He has also undergone lithotripsy for several other kidney stones..
In this day and age my youngest daughter should not have gotten scarlet fever because a strep infection was missed, nor should she have had to go to the hospital emergency room to get her pneumonia diagnosed.
I certainly am grateful to live in a country where I can pay money directly to doctors outside my medical group in order to get the care my family members need.
I shudder when I think of Hillary-care.