"What happens to my health insurance while I'm out?"

The gap people fall into

Workers' compensation pays for treatment of the work injury. That is all it does on the medical side. It does not pay your health premium, it does not maintain your coverage, and it does not stop your employer from ending it.

Meanwhile your family still needs coverage, and so do you for everything that isn't the injury.

What actually holds the coverage

Family and medical leave. If you are eligible under the federal FMLA or California's CFRA, your employer must maintain your group health coverage on the same terms for up to 12 workweeks. You still pay your share of the premium.

Critically: FMLA and workers' compensation run at the same time. Being on comp does not pause your FMLA entitlement — most employers designate the leave as both, and the 12 weeks tick down while you are off. Which means the coverage protection can expire while you are still injured, and people find out when a claim gets denied at a pharmacy.

Ask your employer, in writing, whether your leave has been designated as FMLA/CFRA and on what date it started. You are entitled to know, and the date determines everything else.

A collective bargaining agreement may hold coverage longer. Check it if you are in a union.

Then COBRA

When employer-paid coverage ends, COBRA lets you continue the same plan by paying the full premium yourself — which is a large number, because you are now paying the employer's share too.

The election window is limited and it runs from the qualifying event or the notice, whichever is later. Missing it is common and it is not easily undone.

Before you assume COBRA is the only option: a job loss or loss of coverage is a qualifying life event for Covered California, and a marketplace plan with a subsidy is frequently far cheaper than COBRA for someone whose income just dropped to a two-thirds disability check. That window is also limited.

What to do this week

Find out the exact date your coverage ends. In writing, from HR.

Find out whether your leave was designated FMLA/CFRA and when the clock started.

Price COBRA and Covered California side by side before the election deadline, not after.

And if your coverage was terminated because you filed a claim — that is a different problem with its own remedy under § 132a, and it is worth a call. Retaliation.