I'm not trying to defend Mesa's horrible pay and benefits, but I am curious to know what other regional pilots pay for insurance premiums for say, a family of four.

Aside from teachers, military, and government employees, it seems most pay a good amount of coin to insure a family. At least that's been my experience at different jobs I held before coming to the regionals. Insuring yourself is affordable, add a dependent and it gets pricey. Throw a couple of kids into the equation and that's when it goes through the roof.