Well, I looked at the numbers at our company today, and here's the summary:

Census is 58 people between 22 and 48. Median age is about 30, about half are married, and about 2/3 of the married folks have families.

Our plan covers ALL FAMILY MEMBERS and employee premiums at 100%, for health, dental and vision ... Yes there are $20 copays for visits, and an annual deductible, but it's a very comprehensive plan. Fully PPO (no referrals to see specialists, etc).

Our *most expensive* employee (and his family), per year of these benefits? $11,500/yr.

So if the line is $21,000 for a family -- we're a zillion miles from bumping up against that with our very comprehensive plan. Holy cow, we'd have to either be offering crazy other health benefits (annual full body scans?) to get over the $21K line. How the $40K/yr plans get there is totally beyond me.