Yes, many people believe that there is a state or federal program which will help you and cover you while you are too ill to work. In SOME states, employers are required to provide sick leave benefits for employees. Ohio isn't one of those. In all states, there is no unemployment insurance unless you are NOT unable to work due to health reasons. In the situation you describe, there is no worker's compensation which is a factor ONLY if the person was injured at work and his health issues are a result of this on the job injury. So in other words, if your state is not one where short term disability is required, and you don't happen to work for a company which has sick leave benefits or short term disability which they didn't have to carry but did (a nice thing for them to do) or you have private sick leave or disability insurance which you yourself have purchased (like the duck stuff, you know AFFLAC or some other brand) then you are simply legally out of work, with NO benefits coming in and no help from anywhere.
I certainly hope, as is suggested above that perhaps your sick leave benefits are NOT ending with the job. He definitely needs to check this with his employers' HR. He also, as soon as he is officially let go, needs to sign up for unemployment and set up that claim, as I said above. Maybe his doctor will be willing to release him back to full duty quickly and he can begin drawing unemployment for a few months.
Help from income based programs comes only after you have become impoverished and have spent away all of your own assets and qualify as "low income." So if you get an illness or condition unrelated to your work, such as you get a serious illness or have a terrible accident away from work, and you have been out the twelve weeks of FMLA required by law, the employer can and probably will spit you out and leave you to your own devices.
There are a whole lot of people in our society today who work hard and expect fairness and rewards that DO NOT happen in our workplaces. ""He who has the gold makes the rules," and it's never a good idea to forget that or feel too comfortable that you're not going to end up on the bottom through circumstances beyond your control.

