Healthy Boiler

Ready to live tobacco free, be heathier and save money? There are resources available to you to help!

Ready to live tobacco free, be heathier and save money? There are resources available to you to help!   

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cigarette smoke harms nearly every organ in the body, causes many diseases, and reduces the health of smokers in general. It also states that cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

Aside from the health benefits resulting from not smoking, there are also financial benefits, including a waiver of the tobacco-user additional premium on an employee’s medical benefits. As a reminder, employees who certify as tobacco users (a person who has used tobacco, including cigars, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco or any other tobacco product in the past 12 months) during open enrollment each year will pay an additional $500 tobacco-user premium on their medical benefits. Tobacco-rated premiums also apply to the voluntary term life, critical illness and universal life plans.

As a Purdue employee, you have in-person and telephonic resources available to you to help you live a tobacco-free life, better your overall health and save money by not having to pay additionally for health coverage because you use tobacco.

Tobacco cessation resources

Purdue employees currently can utilize the Center for Healthy Living on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus as well as the Indiana Tobacco Quitline (outlined below) for approved tobacco-cessation programs.

  • In-Person/Phone Option
    West Lafayette's Center for Healthy Living: All Campuses
    One-to-one counseling for tobacco cessation helps by providing support both before and after you quit. Through a series of up to four sessions, telephonic and/or in person, you can receive (a) guidance to help you handle challenges while quitting and (b) recommendations for selection and proper use of medications to help make you more comfortable while you are quitting.

    Contact the Center for Healthy Living at 765-494-0111 to schedule your first session with a nurse health coach or pharmacist at least one week before your planned quit date.
  • Phone option
    Indiana Tobacco Quitline: All campuses
    The Indiana Tobacco Quitline is available seven days a week to employees and spouses at all campuses. This program is provided by the Indiana State Department of Health, and it is available to all residents of Indiana. If you call from a number outside of Indiana, you will be connected to a Quitline for that location. Special notice: This program can only be completed once per year. If you have already completed this program, please select another option.

    To receive credit for this approved tobacco cessation program you must:
    • Register: Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) to start the program. A Quitline intake specialist will get your demographic information and register you in the program. You will then be transferred to a quit coach for your initial coaching call or you will be scheduled for an outbound call from the quit coach at a later date.
    • Calls: Quit coach calls include assessment of status, review of stage of readiness to change, action items appropriate to status, discussion of triggers and barriers, setting a quit date and information/resources. During a coaching call, the quit coach schedules the timeframe for your next call. Should you miss a scheduled call, you can call in yourself to reach a quit coach.
    • Timing: You will receive four calls with your quit coach. Generally, most people complete their four calls between six and 12 weeks. You may take longer than 12 weeks if needed, but you must not complete the four quit coach calls in shorter than six weeks.
    • Submit your letter of completion: During your fourth call with your quit coach, you must request a “Letter of Completion.” Once you receive that in the mail, you will submit this letter to Human Resources as evidence of completion:

ATTN: Tobacco Cessation

Campus mail:
HR - Benefits, KPTC

U.S. mail:
Purdue HR Benefits
1281 Win Hentschel Blvd Suite 1100
West Lafayette, IN 47906

 In-person drop-off:  Stewart Center, Room G66 8 a.m.to 5 p.m. ET Tuesday- Friday

For tobacco cessation options specific to regional campuses, please visit their respective websites.

For all Purdue health plans, the items listed below are covered 100 percent with no copay as long as you have a prescription for them (including over-the-counter items). These do not require prior authorization. You’re allowed up to a 168-day supply (24 weeks) of each product in one year of treatment.

Tobacco Cessation Products

  • Generic nicotine replacement
    • Nicotine gum
    • Nicotine lozenge
  • Nicotine transdermal patch
  • Brand-name Nicotrol (nicotine inhalation system)
  • Brand-name Nicotrol NS (nicotine nasal spray)
  • Generic bupropion (generic of brand-name, Zyban) ― Zyban is not covered
  • Brand-name Chantix (varenicline tartrate)
  • Additional Tobacco cessation products (OTC and Rx)
    • Bupropion HCl tab SR 12 hr 150 mg
    • Chantix tab 0.5 mg and 1 mg
    • Chantix tab 0.5 mg x 11 tabs and 1 mg x 42 pack
    • Nicotine polacrilex gum 2 mg and 4 mg
    • Nicotine polacrilex lozenge 2 mg and 4 mg
    • Nicotine TD patch 24 hr 21 mg, 14 mg and 7 mg/24 hr
    • Nicotrol inhaler system 10 mg
    • Nicotrol NS nasal spray 10 mg/mL

Important 2019 enrollment information

If you or your spouse have a current approved tobacco waiver for completing a cessation program, your tobacco status will need to be re-certified in Benefitfocus to one of the two options below.

  1. Certified tobacco user
  2. Certified non-tobacco user

If you do not re-certify, you will default to tobacco-user status and the annual tobacco-user additional premium will apply to both you and your spouse, if applicable.

Tobacco users have the option of completing an approved tobacco cessation program (see resources above) to avoid the $500 per person annual tobacco-user additional premium charge that will apply.

Page 7 of your benefits enrollment guide provides more information.

Questions

Anyone with questions about the tobacco-cessation waivers and resources available may contact Human Resources at 765-494-2222, toll free at 877-725-0222 or via email at hr@purdue.edu or the regional campus Human Resources office.