The loophole in the ACA is that employees only have to provide the "minimum value standard" to the employee only. Many employers across the country, just like Mesa (but to a much higher degree) are providing the required plan to the employee but are subsidizing their cost for the employee plan by basically charging whatever they want for family members. I think, as many others do too, that Mesa is subsidizing their cost for the employee plans with higher than actual cost for family members.

The minimum value standard requires that the employee receive a plan that meets the required coverage at a certain cost. What my family does, is I get my plan from Mesa (which meets these standards), my wife gets hers from her company (which does basically the same thing as Mesa but the premiums are much lower, and we get our child's insurance on the healthcare exchange.

From a employee benefit standpoint, the plans offered by Mesa for family are out of this world. But there are options to reduce your cost and to get good coverage overall, you just have to work at it, sadly.

There has been so much misinformation spread about the ACA in the past years that people dont understand what it actually offers. That is a discussion for another time or place, but, become educated about what your options really are to mitigate your cost exposure, regardless where you work.

(These statements aren't directed at iFlyRC, but just using the quote to make my points for the forum at large. )

Edit: A word