Solon wants informal economy workers granted health insurance
By Saghir Hussain ·
A Philippine lawmaker’s push to extend state health insurance to millions of informal workers has thrown a spotlight on a gap the UK knows all too well: the millions on zero-hours contracts, gig platforms and cash-in-hand jobs who fall through the cracks of universal coverage.
Representative Solon filed House Bill 11,000 this week, proposing automatic PhilHealth enrolment for the estimated 15 million Filipinos in the informal economy — street vendors, tricycle drivers, freelance labourers — who currently pay out of pocket or go without. “Health is not a privilege for the formally employed,” Solon told the House. “It is a right that must follow the worker, not the contract.”
The UK parallel: NHS access without the safety net
Britain’s NHS is free at the point of use, but access does not equal security. The Resolution Foundation estimates 4.4 million UK workers are in “atypical” employment — agency, platform, zero-hours — with no sick pay, no occupational health, and no employer contributions to private cover. When illness strikes, the choice is often work sick or lose the rent.
Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, insisted this week he wants to “reduce the welfare bill” but refused to put a figure on it, telling the Belfast Telegraph the focus must be on “good work, proper pay, and prevention.” Critics argue that without mandatory portable benefits — sick pay, pension, health top-ups — attached to the worker rather than the employer, the bill simply shifts from the state to the household.
Gig platforms resist reclassification
Uber, Deliveroo and Addison Lee have spent years in UK courts and tribunals fighting “worker” status that would unlock holiday pay and pensions. The Supreme Court’s 2021 Uber v Aslam ruling forced a concession on minimum wage and holidays, but sick pay and private health remain voluntary. A 2023 TUC survey found 78% of gig workers had worked while ill in the previous year; 42% delayed seeing a GP because they couldn’t afford the time off.
The Philippines bill proposes a shared contribution model: government subsidy, worker premium, and a levy on digital platforms operating in the country. Manila’s Department of Finance estimates the annual cost at ₱42 billion (£580 million) — roughly 0.2% of GDP. The UK’s equivalent, a portable benefits fund for 4.4 million precarious workers, would cost an estimated £3.2 billion annually at current NICs rates, according to the Institute for Employment Studies.
Prevention cheaper than cure
PhilHealth’s acting president, Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., warned that uninsured informal workers “present late, cost more, and die younger” — a pattern NHS emergency consultants recognise in UK cities. A 2024 King’s Fund report linked insecure work to 30% higher A&E attendance and 18% higher avoidable mortality in the most deprived deciles.
Solon’s bill faces a crowded legislative calendar and industry lobbying. In Westminster, the Employment Rights Bill promises “day one” rights but stops short of portable health benefits. The question for both capitals is the same: does a universal system stay universal if the people propping it up are one sickness away from ruin?