Any employer who qualifies for a certificate of exemption under Section 10494.5 by virtue of which certificate he or she maintains a plan for furnishing disability benefits to his or her employees may, if he or she elects, make available for the related dependents of his or her employees, comprising spouses and dependent children who are not married or in registered domestic partnerships living in the same household, a supplemental plan of disability benefits containing any or all of the following benefits, hospital, surgical and medical; provided, that as to the supplemental plan the Insurance Commissioner finds that all of the following exist:

(a) The supplemental plan shall be separately stated, setting out all of the provisions of coverage.

(b) The plan shall set out the respective contributions of the employer and employees. All contributions of employees received or retained by the employer shall be trust funds and shall be separately accounted for by the employer and may not inure to the benefit of the employer in any manner whatsoever.

(c) The plan permits the disabled individual a free choice of physician and surgeon, or podiatrist in the case of those services that are within the scope of practice of podiatric medicine, as defined in Section 2472 of the Business and Professions Code, and hospital.

(d) The employer agrees to assume 50 percent of the cost of maintaining the plan, and he or she further agrees to guarantee the benefits if the contributions required for the supplementary benefits are not sufficient to pay the cost of same. The funds necessary to discharge the employer’s 50 percent assumption shall be trust funds and shall be separately accounted for by him or her.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 50, Sec. 61. (SB 1005) Effective January 1, 2017.)