HIP Tobacco Use Surcharge

The Health Indiana Plan (HIP) started a program to cut down the high rate of tobacco use among HIP members and the bad health it causes. Help is available to help you quit. If you are not able to quit after 12 months of HIP coverage, an extra 50 percent tobacco surcharge will be added to your monthly POWER Account Contribution.

Who is a tobacco user?

A tobacco user is anyone who uses chewing tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookah or snuff
four or more times a week over the prior six months. 

How does the state or CareSource know if a member is a tobacco user?

  • The information is given to the state during enrollment. When enrolling/applying to be a HIP member,
    applicants are asked if they use tobacco. If the member answers yes, the state file will show the member as a tobacco user.
  • Though there are questions about tobacco use on the Health Needs Screening (HNS), these answers will not be captured on your state record. If you tell us you are a tobacco user on your HNS, you may get information about how you can quit.
  • Also, the state may check claims to identify members who use tobacco. Call Member Services or follow the normal appeals process to change your tobacco user status.

How does CareSource help members stop using tobacco?

Members identified as tobacco users will be encouraged to use covered benefits and service to help them stop using tobacco. These covered benefits to help them quit include:

  • Medicine
  • Web-based education and tools
  • Calls with a personal coach
  • Behavioral counseling
  • Rewards!

Please call Member Services at 1-844-607-2829 (TTY: 800-743-3333 or 711) to learn about our programs to help you quit.

When does the 50 percent tobacco surcharge get added to my PAC?

Once a member reports they are a tobacco user, they will have one benefit period (12 months) to use the CareSource programs to become tobacco free. If, after the benefit period, the member reports they were using tobacco during the benefit period, without stopping, the 50 percent tobacco surcharge will be added to their PAC for all future invoices during their next benefit health period. This means members reporting tobacco use during the 2018 benefit period will have their first tobacco surcharges added to PAC invoices in January of 2019.

How do I stop the surcharge once it gets added to my PAC?

You can call CareSource or the state broker between November 1 and December 15 to let us know you have quit using tobacco*.

CareSource: 1-844-607-2829 (TTY: 800-743-3333 or 711)

State Broker: 1-877-438-4479 (GET-HIP9)