January 27, 2023

Healthy Boiler workshop enables attendees to waive tobacco-user additional premium for 2023

For those who are ready to quit smoking or who are thinking about quitting, the upcoming Healthy Boiler workshop – “Tobacco Cessation Program” – is an available resource to use. The workshop, which meets from noon to 1 p.m. ET on Tuesdays from Feb. 7 to March 14, 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,” said Lindsay Bloom, health coach at Purdue Fort Wayne who is also presenting this workshop.

Attending the workshop will count as an approved tobacco cessation program, resulting in a waiver of the 2023 tobacco-user additional premium once the completed program certificate is submitted. See information below for details. 

Those interested should register by Tuesday (Jan. 31) 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 square 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 an employee (and their spouse, if covered) have used tobacco in the last 12 months, and those premiums may be impacted 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 2023 plan year. If the form is submitted after March 31, the premium will be waived for the remainder of the 2023 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, Smokefree.gov offers insight through the 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.


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