Marcotte, Hogue, Moore

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court dismissing an application for declaratory judgment. Dismissed.

In 2018, the appellant decided to stop offering its members prescription drug insurance coverage as of January 1, 2019. When informed of the situation, the Quebec Treasury Board (QTB), which had taken out an insurance policy for retired public and parapublic sector management personnel, informed the appellant that an exclusion concerning school principals would be removed and that retirees under 65 years of age, who were now eligible, would be required to take out the policy. The appellant sought to re-establish the exclusion, arguing that these retirees could not unilaterally be included in the group of insureds covered by the policy because they had never consented to the QTB taking out an insurance policy on their behalf. The trial judge dismissed this application.

The trial judge did not err in finding that the members of the appellant, as retired public and parapublic sector management personnel under 65 years of age, are part of a group with private coverage within the meaning of section 15.1 of the Act respecting prescription drug insurance (CQLR, c. A-29.01). His interpretation is consistent with the letter and the spirit of the Act, which implements a public plan for the benefit of citizens over 65 years of age and those who are under 65 years of age but cannot become members of group insurance or an employee benefit plan providing coverage that is at least equivalent. That is not the case of retired public and parapublic sector management personnel under 65 years of age, who are no longer excluded from the group insured by the insurance policy that the QTB took out with the impleaded party, and who are now subject to the obligation to take out this group insurance policy.

Moreover, the appellant is wrong to maintain that because its members are retired, they are no longer parties to a contract of employment pursuant to which they implicitly agree to take out the group insurance offered to them. This argument is inconsistent with the spirit of the Act and the wording of sections 15.1 and 16, which concern persons who are part of a group, not those who become members. The judge was therefore correct to dismiss the appellant’s application because the QTB was right to include retirees under 65 years of age in the group of insureds covered by the insurance policy without first having obtained their consent, as it was entitled to do. Indeed, the prior consent of these retirees was not required because the Act imposes a legal obligation on them to take out the group insurance policy offered to them.

Text of the decision: http://citoyens.soquij.qc.ca