October 30, 2019

Learn about ‘Products to Quit Now' via Center for Healthy Living’s November workshop

Clinical pharmacists Chelsea Anderson and Jamie Woodyard at the Center for Healthy Living (CHL) on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus are presenting a workshop to help individuals learn more about the various tobacco cessation products on the market. Held on Nov. 20, the “Products to Quit Now” workshop will serve as an introduction to the Great American Smokeout -- hosted annually on the third Thursday of November (Nov. 21 this year) by the American Cancer Society.

The workshop will take place from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. in Stewart Center, Room 313. Interested individuals should register by Nov. 19 via the Healthy Boiler Portal. Registration link can be found under the “Engage” tab, “Wellness Events” on the portal’s homepage.

Attending this workshop will count as one of the four counseling appointments required toward an approved tobacco cessation program, resulting in a partial waiver of the tobacco-user additional premium for the remainder of the plan year. The remaining three appointments can take place via individualized counseling at CHL. Additionally, staff at CHL can provide assistance for employees at the regional campuses through telephonic tobacco-cessation coaching. For more information on the resources available at the center, call 765-494-0111. 

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

Insurance coverage

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.

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 tobacco-user premium on their medical benefits. For 2020, the additional premium is $1,000 for employees and covered spouses. 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 at this time will reduce premiums for the remainder of the 2019 plan year (may take one to two pay periods to commence).

In 2020, if employees submit a form by March 31, 2020, the premium will be waived for the entire 2020 plan year. If employees submit a form after March 31, 2020, the premium will be waived for the remainder of the 2020 plan year.

For more information about the additional premium, visit the Tobacco-User Additional Premium: Questions and Answers webpage.

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. Questions specifically about the “Products to Quit Now” workshop should be directed to CHL at 765-494-0111.

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.


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