Shortly after I started working, Congress passed this new law that allowed you to keep your health care for a while after you were fired or switched employers. They called it COBRA -- Comprehensive Omnibus Reconciliation Act. The legislation was tucked into the massive bill that funded the entire government, and it changed health care in the United States. I remember COBRA because I was about to leave my old job and start a new one. The HR folks asked me if I wanted "COBRA" coverage. I was young and didn't know much, so I said no.

Big mistake. For a year and a half, I couldn't find health insurance.

Now comes another weird acronym that employees are likely to have to learn -- VEBA.

It's a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association. GM is offering to fund one to the tune of $29.9 billion. The insurance fund will cover retirees. After paying in, GM is pretty much off the hook. And if the money runs out, well, no one knows what happens then.

If VEBAs catch on, and they might with unionized employers, it's another big change for workers. And it's another weird acronym to add to the retirement lexicon along with things like IRA and COBRA.