Learn about ‘Products to Quit Now’ via upcoming Healthy Boiler workshop

Clinical pharmacist Chelsea Baker at the Center for Healthy Living (CHL) on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus is presenting a virtual workshop to help individuals learn more about the various tobacco cessation products on the market. To be held on Jan. 20, the “Products to Quit Now” workshop will provide attendees with more information about products on the market to help them quit smoking, including what they are and how they work. “Products to Quit Now” supports the physical health pillar as well as the financial wellness pillar of the Healthy Boiler Program.

The virtual workshop will take place from noon to 1 p.m. via WebEx. Interested individuals should register by Jan. 19 via the Healthy Boiler Portal. The 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 as an approved tobacco cessation program, resulting in a partial waiver of the tobacco-user additional premium on a Purdue medical plan. The remaining three appointments can take place via individualized counseling with a health coach at CHL or Purdue Fort Wayne. Health coaches can provide assistance for employees at the West Lafayette, Fort Wayne and Northwest campuses via telephonic tobacco-cessation coaching.   

Insurance coverage

Keep in mind that 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 $1,000 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 by March 31 will waive the tobacco-user additional premium for the entire 2021 plan year. If the form is submitted after March 31, the premium will be waived for the remainder of the 2021 plan year.

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

Among information available regarding overall cost savings as a result of quitting smoking, Tobacco Free Kids and Smokefree.gov offer insights below:

• Tobacco Free Kids: Immediate savings by state (December 2020)
• Smokefree.gov calculator

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.

Healthy Boiler workshops are free to all benefits-eligible faculty and staff and dependents covered on a Purdue medical plan.