January 21, 2022
Healthy Boiler workshop to enable attendees to waive tobacco-user additional premium for 2022
For those who are ready to quit smoking or who are thinking about quitting, the upcoming Healthy Boiler workshop “Tobacco Cessation” is a great resource. The workshop, which meets from noon to 1 p.m. ET on Mondays from Jan. 31 to March 7, will teach strategies to help individuals quit and stay quit. The workshop supports the physical health and financial wellness pillars of the Healthy Boiler Program.
“Quitting nicotine products greatly reduces the risk of developing smoking-related diseases,” says Lindsay Bloom, health coach at Purdue Fort Wayne, who is presenting this workshop.
Attending this workshop will count as an approved tobacco cessation program, resulting in a waiver of the 2022 tobacco-user additional premium, once completed program certificate is submitted. See information below for details.
Those interested in should register by Jan. 24 via the Healthy Boiler Portal. The registration link can be found under the “Healthy Boiler Workshops” section on the portal’s homepage. Hover over the workshop’s button and hit “Submit” to register. Healthy Boiler workshops 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 $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, 2022, will waive the tobacco-user additional premium for the entire 2022 plan year. If the form is submitted after March 31, 2022, the premium will be waived for the remainder of the 2022 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 2021)
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.
