General Discussion

of the federal employee equivalent of a defined benefit pension plan. My husband worked as a staff psychiatrist part time for the VA long enough to qualify. He had been collecting benefits which included health insurance that covered both of us and our youngest son until he aged out. After my husband died last December, I applied for survivor benefits and recently was informed that not only will I be collecting a gross benefit of almost $2k/month, but that the health insurance benefit will also continue. They deduct about 1/3 the cost of the monthly premium from the monthly benefit and the feds pick up the other 2/3. The medical benefits are so good that when I had a $70,000. hip replacement last fall, Medicare and the supplemental policy paid everything. I've never gotten a bill for any balance from the hospital or the docs.

Between the widow's benefits from Social Security and the civil service benefits, it will make a huge difference to my financial comfort for the rest of my life. I will not need to withdraw from my IRA until I'm required at 70 1/2 to take RMD's.

There is no other reason than greed that people in the private sector aren't similarly covered with retirement benefits that allow them to live a comfortable retirement.