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This paper analyzes the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and financial protection in four East Asia and Pacific (EAP) countries: Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. It highlights a general improvement in service coverage in East Asia, while the Pacific region lagged. The pandemic has exacerbated healthcare access disparities and increased out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures, with around half of the global population lacking essential health services. In the EAP region, 38 percent of individuals spent over 10 percent of their budgets on health, and 43 percent were pushed into poverty due to medical costs. The paper calls for enhanced governmental interventions to extend health subsidies and expand pre-payment schemes to improve financial protection and reduce inequities in access to healthcare.