Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James today announced that the agency's immensely popular USAJOBS website contains a link to its website for Health Savings Accounts (www.opm.gov/hsa), a new tax-advantaged health product for federal employees in 2005.

With the link from USAJOBS (www.usajobs.gov), which has had more than 90 million visits since August 2003, greater numbers of job seekers will learn about High Deductible Health Plans and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) available to federal employees and be further enticed into applying for a federal position. Of the 31,585 people who have visited the HSA homepage since its debut on September 20, 4,946 have registered to date to receive additional information about the health product.

President George W. Bush made HSAs available to federal employees with the signing of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. James said continued high use of USAJOBS will lead job seekers to learn more about this new health product, which can be an incentive to joining the federal ranks.

"HSAs are tax-advantaged health products that empower enrollees in High Deductible Health Plans to spend their medical dollars wisely, while saving money for future medical needs," said James. Eighteen High Deductible Health Plans are being offered in 2005 through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. "While this product may not be attractive to every employee, it does provide federal employees with yet another choice in making the best use of their health-care dollars, in connection with a tax-free savings account that accumulates and rolls over from year to year to pay medical expenses."

In the 13 months since OPM launched the new and an improved USAJOBS website, recent college graduates, veterans and working Americans seeking a career change have posted 798,499 résumés to the newly stylized and reinvigorated site in hopes of landing a federal job, an opportunity that is becoming more coveted as a result of the nation's swelling patriotism.

Our mission is to ensure the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce. OPM supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work force performance.