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With funding for the uninsured expired, the support structure to provide equitable access to COVID-19 testing and treatment is \"in imminent jeopardy,\" the group wrote, warning the funding cut \"could create extreme confusion at the pharmacy counter\" and \"result in the tragedy of increasing disparities in access to critically needed care and patients forgoing care.\"

Fostering equitable access to COVID-19 care for vulnerable groups is contingent on making sure sick people get the treatment they need in time, because antiviral therapies such as monoclonals or Paxlovid must be taken within a short infection timeframe. So, getting treated is contingent upon getting tested in that limited window, to receive what is already a shrinking supply of free treatments. Getting tested in time is also contingent on being able to afford the service, which is not a given, especially for lower income families.

\"The loss of access, as a result of expiring COVID-19 care programs, could undermine the nation’s broader, comprehensive response efforts, and NACDS agrees that inaction at this pivotal time could set the nation back, leave the nation less prepared, and may cost the nation more lives,\" the letter read.

\"PHOTO:
Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: A healthcare worker conducts a swab test at a drive through Covid-19 testing site in Cruz Bay, Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Feb. 2, 2022.
>

The American Clinical Laboratory Association -- the national trade association representing some of the leading clinical labs responsible for COVID-19 diagnostics (including Quest and LabCorp) -- is similarly raising concerns.

\"Without question, the exhaustion of these funds will threaten access to testing for the most vulnerable Americans at a critical time in our nation's response effort,\" Tom Sparkman, ACLA's senior vice president of government affairs and policy, wrote to House and Senate leadership this week.

Sparkman told ABC News in an interview Wednesday the funding cuts for the uninsured is two steps backward in the pandemic progress.

\"We are still in a public health emergency. We're not out of the woods yet -- we don't want to start taking apart pieces of the response. We need to remain strong and vigilant, and the uninsured funding is a critical component of that,\" Sparkman said. \"It's extremely concerning.\"

\"We can't start rolling up the carpet,\" he said. \"Not learning the lessons from past surges -- of keeping a higher level of surge capacity for testing, keeping those lines warm and available -- I think that would be a mistake.\"

ABC News' Alex Stone reports:

ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

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