A Unified Framework for Health Financing Equity: Operationalising the WHO Health Financing Progress Matrix Through an Integrated Micro-Level Quantitative Lens Within the Global Health Financing Architecture

Financial hardship arises where out-of-pocket expenditure exceeds household capacity to pay. Net of all public coverage offsets, the residual uncompensated financial exposure at this boundary remains unquantified — a void where public funding terminates, and household financial exposure initiates. HFPM-IQ Lens quantifies this void. Activating at confirmed financial hardship and invariant across clinical conditions, financing designs, coverage states, and national health financing architectures, it isolates the exact uncompensated financial gap remaining after all public coverage offsets, outputting a discrete currency quantum at the individual level. This quantum links individual financial hardship to national financing performance, supplying national governments with the monetary evidence to calibrate benefit package design, guide strategic purchasing, and drive evidence-based coverage policy reform. Keywords: Health Systems Financing, Financial Protection in Health, Health Financing Progress Matrix, HFPM-IQ Lens, Micro-costing, Benefit Package Design.