Time to fully account for cost in monitoring financial protection and universal health coverage in low- and middle-income settings

21003 6 111782 2 337810 document 111782 czaf085.pdf application/pdf 8af74fd0d560adba543737bb5e54abd0 MD5 233998 2025-11-19 12:59:02 https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/21003/1/czaf085.pdf 21003 1 1 application/pdf text en public cc_by_nc_4

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published 111788 1 337821 document 111788 indexcodes.txt text/plain dfdbc0b77a949aa671c53f6bda05b89f MD5 6312 2025-11-19 13:08:58 https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/21003/2/indexcodes.txt 21003 2 2 text/plain other Generate index codes conversion from text to indexcodes en public

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http://eprints.org/relation/isVersionOf https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/document/111782 http://eprints.org/relation/isVolatileVersionOf https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/document/111782 http://eprints.org/relation/issmallThumbnailVersionOf https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/document/111782 archive 353 disk0/00/02/10/03 2025-11-19 12:59:50 2025-11-19 12:59:50 2025-11-19 12:59:50 article show Binyaruka P. Borghi J. 9448 0000-0002-0482-5451 Time to fully account for cost in monitoring financial protection and universal health coverage in low- and middle-income settings pub POPJUS H2A Financial protection is a core pillar of universal health coverage (UHC), yet current monitoring approaches in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) largely focus on direct medical costs, neglecting direct transport costs and indirect time costs lost when seeking care. This commentary highlights the importance of fully accounting for these often-excluded costs, which disproportionately affect poorer and rural populations and can significantly hinder access to essential health services and lead to foregone care. We outline five priority areas for action, including improved measurement of transport and time costs through household surveys, methodological advancements in valuing time, increased investment in primary health care to reduce physical access barriers, adaptation of financing schemes and social protection programs to cover non-medical costs, and a multisectoral approach to address structural determinants. Fully integrating these dimensions into financial protection metrics and policies is critical for ensuring more equitable progress toward UHC in LMICs. 2025-11-18 published doi:10.1093/heapol/czaf085 3380 public Health Policy and Planning czaf085 TRUE 1460-2237 info:eu-repo/semantics/article