Court Opinion

ID: 9755177
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:29:02.266823+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:04.268169
License: Public Domain

STEPHEN N. LIMBAUGH, JR.,
Judge, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
There is not one whit of inference, implication or legislative intent in sections 84.160.8(1) and 84.160.8(3) that requires the board to furnish the same insurance plan for retired officers that it furnishes for active officers. Section 84.160.8(1) states that the board “[s]hall provide or contract for life insurance coverage and for insurance benefits providing health, medical and disability coverage for officers and employees of the department;” section 84.160.8(3) states that the board “[s]hall provide health, medical, and life insurance *533coverage for retired officers and employees of the police department.” But Judge Teitelman’s three-vote “majority” rewrites section 84.160.8(3) so that it now states that the board “shall provide health, medical, and life insurance coverage for retired officers and employees of the police department at substantially the same level of benefits that are available to active officers
The Teitelman majority is correct that the legislature “provides no guidance as to what minimal extent of coverage will satisfy the requirement that the Board ‘shall provide’ insurance.” My view, however, which is shared by the trial court and the unanimous three-judge panel from the court of appeals, is that the only things that can be gleaned from the absence of that guidance are that 1) some coverage must be provided without requiring the retirees to pay a premium and 2) the coverage provided must not be illusory. The real question then, is whether the basic plan available without payment of premiums is illusory, and the court of appeals’ answer to this question again hits the mark:
[T]he Basic Plan is not the most generous of health care plans in terms of its deductibles, co-pays, and prescription drug benefits. This does not, however, make the health care insurance that it provides an illusory plan. The evidence presented at trial is that the Basic Plan offers comprehensive medical coverage, and as part of the Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield network, gives its members a choice of over ninety percent of the health care providers in the St. Louis area, and offers prescription drug benefits. The coverage provided by the Basic Plan is not illusory.
Although the concurring opinion suggests that the standard should be whether the coverage is “minimally acceptable,” I see no difference in the “not illusory” standard employed by the court of appeals. In any event, I would hold that the coverage here is both minimally acceptable and not illusory.
For these reasons, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.