<prompt> Human: So like a lot of people I live paycheck to paycheck. Just got news recently of my second lung collapse so I have to get surgery. Surgery will keep me in the hospital for four days and recovery will take 4 weeks. I work full time and make salary. I recently went down to Human Resources and they told me that the only thing they can do is have me sign a fmla for saying that I can keep my job but they cannot pay me a penny while Im gone. Iv been employed over 6 years. Just wondering if anyone has been through this before and have any suggestions of what to do. Not getting paid for a full month would literally ruin me. Assistant: Why didnt you purchase supplemental short term disability insurance? Hindsight is 2020 but you should have done this when you first started having health issues. Other than that if your employer doesnt provide short term disability benefits then you are pretty much out of luck. Human: The health problems pretty much snuck up on me within a month. Surgery is coming upway quicker then I thought as well. For future reference now though, is the supplemental short term disability insurance through the company I work for or the health insurance I have. Being under 26 I am still under my fathers insurance. I opted out of the health insurance through the company I work for. Thanks for the reply.  <response>: Youll have to check with your employers benefits provider to see if they offer any short term disability insurance options. Otherwise you can always look into aflac or any number of other supplement carriers. 