A bipartisan bill aimed at combating hepatitis C is stalled in the Senate due to a high score from the Congressional Budget Office, the bill’s lead sponsor Bill Cassidy, R-La., said on Thursday. The bill, co-sponsored by Sen Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., proposes a national strategy to reduce hepatitis C infections by providing free medications and expanding testing for high-risk and vulnerable groups. Van Hollen’s office also said discussions with CBO were ongoing and that Van Hollen was hopeful that the issue would be resolved. But it does not include language in Cassidy and Van Hollen’s bill that would prevent unauthorized immigrants from accessing the medication under the program. Hepatitis C is a deadly but curable disease, yet potentially hundreds of thousands of Americans remain untreated or don’t know they are infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.