Workers experiencing serious health problems that temporarily make continuing work difficult face not only loss of earnings, but potentially loss of health insurance coverage. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), passed in 1993, helps to mitigate these losses by mandating employers provide temporary unpaid leave, continuation of health benefits during the leave, and the right to return to work in the same or similar job for eligible workers. This paper reviews earlier research with respect to how important a role health insurance continuation under the FMLA is for employees with disabilities.