Whereas hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and the incidence of liver disease caused by these viruses, have become urgent problems of a global proportion; Whereas an estimated 1,400,000 people worldwide die each year due to hepatitis; Whereas an estimated 240,000,000 people worldwide live with chronic hepatitis B, and an estimated 686,000 people worldwide die each year due to a liver-related illness caused by hepatitis B; Whereas an estimated 150,000,000 people worldwide are chronically infected with hepatitis C, and an estimated 700,000 people worldwide die each year due to a liver-related illness caused by hepatitis C; Whereas up to an estimated 6,100,000 people in the United States are infected with either hepatitis B or hepatitis C, and up to an estimated 2,200,000 who are chronically infected with hepatitis B and up to an estimated 3,900,000 people who are chronically infected with hepatitis C; Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) estimated that there were 19,200 new acute hepatitis B infections and 30,500 new acute hepatitis C infections, respectively, in the United States in 2014; Whereas the CDC has found significant increases in the transmission of new hepatitis cases in the United States since 2010, including a 158 percent increase between 2010 and 2014 in new transmissions of hepatitis C in the United States; Whereas chronic viral hepatitis claims thousands of lives each year in the United States, with an estimated 19,659 deaths due to hepatitis C in the United States in 2014; Whereas, in 2014, $4,700,000,000 in Medicare funds were spent on hepatitis C treatments; Whereas up to an estimated 80 percent of people with acute Hepatitis C do not have any symptoms; Whereas African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders, Latinos, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, gay and bisexual men, and persons who inject drugs intravenously all have higher rates of chronic viral hepatitis infections in the United States than other groups of people