Oh I totally agree, although where I'm at now comes close to the benefits of working in the VA, minus the federal holidays. Health plan is half of what I paid as a VA intern for federal BCBS, with 85% of the premium paid by the employer. We also get 10 paid CME days and a generous CME fund, which can be equivalent to one or two "working" vacations. The downside is that they try to work everyone like a dog. One of my supervisors recently had an inpatient stay related to a "mild cardiac event," and was given a laptop so that he could work during his admission. In general, I think the VA has a better culture with the work-life balance thing.