  We present the results of a detailed calculation of the excitation spectrum
of states with quantum numbers J^{PC}=0++, 1-- and 2++ in the three-dimensional
SU(2) Higgs model at two values of the scalar self-coupling and for fixed gauge
coupling. In the context of studies of the electroweak phase transition at
finite temperature these couplings correpond to tree-level, zero temperature
Higgs masses of 35 GeV and 120 GeV, respectively. We also study the properties
of Polyakov loop operators, which serve to test the confining properties of the
model in the symmetric phase. At both values of the scalar coupling we obtain
masses of bound states consisting entirely of gauge degrees of freedom
("W-balls"), which are very close to those obtained in the pure gauge theory.
We conclude that the previously observed, approximate decoupling of the scalar
and gauge sectors of the theory persists at large scalar couplings. We study
the crossover region at large scalar coupling and present a scenario how the
confining properties of the model in the symmetric phase are lost inside the
crossover by means of flux tube decay. We conclude that the underlying dynamics
responsible for the observed dense spectrum of states in the Higgs region at
large couplings must be different from that in the symmetric phase.
