Learn about tobacco cessation products at Center for Healthy Living's ‘Products to Quit Now' workshop

Clinical pharmacists Chelsea Anderson and Jamie Woodyard at the Center for Healthy Living on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus are presenting a workshop to help individuals learn more about the various tobacco cessation products on the market. The “Products to Quit Now” workshop will take place 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. May 8 in Stewart Center, Room 313.

Attending this workshop will count as one of the four counseling appointments required as an approved tobacco cessation program, resulting in a partial waiver of the tobacco-user additional premium for the remainder of the plan year.

“We realize that quitting smoking (or using tobacco in other forms) is quite difficult,” Anderson says. “This workshop will provide participants with information about what tobacco-cessation products are available, how they work and we’ll show product examples as well.”

All Purdue medical plans for faculty and staff cover tobacco cessation products with no copay as long as the employee has a prescription for them (including over-the-counter items). Cessation products do not require prior authorization, and employees are allowed up to a 168-day supply (24 weeks) of each product in one year of treatment. For a list of covered tobacco-cessation products, visit the Tobacco Cessation webpage.

Interested individuals should register by May 7 via the Healthy Boiler Portal. Registration link can be found under the “Engage” tab, “Wellness Events” on the portal’s homepage.

Workshops provided by the Center for Healthy Living are free to all benefits-eligible faculty and staff and dependents covered on a Purdue medical plan.

Tobacco-user additional premium information

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 benefits premium. As a reminder, employees (and their spouse, if covered) 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. Premiums for term life, universal life and critical illness insurance also are based in part on whether or not an employee (and their spouse, if covered) have used tobacco in the last 12 months, and those premiums may be affected as well.

Completed program certificates from an approved tobacco cessation program submitted after March 31 will reduce premiums for the remainder of the plan year.

For more information about the additional premium, visit the tobacco-user additional premium frequently asked questions page.

Questions

Anyone with questions about the waivers and tobacco-cessation resources available may contact Human Resources at 765-494-2222, toll free at 877-725-0222 or via email at hr@purdue.edu. Specific questions about the “Products to Quit Now” workshop should be directed to CHL at 765-494-0111.