Their new estimate says that universal masking in the U.S. could save some 130,000 lives by the end of February. .For details, or to see if your Members of Congress will hold town hall meetings over the holiday recess, contact their offices. You can find contact information for all Members of Congress in the ACTION CENTER of our website. ."'We trace this mortality effect to cutbacks in life-saving medicines like statins and antihypertensives, for which clinical trials show large mortality benefits,' the researchers wrote. .While TSCL supports this first legislative step, more work will be needed in the years ahead to provide greater financial certainty for disabled Social Security recipients. What do you think about the recent legislation and fixes for Social Security disability? Take TSCL's 2016 Senior Survey. .For more information about town hall meetings near you, click HERE. You can also call the local offices of your Members of Congress to request information about upcoming town halls. For contact information, click HERE. .This week, one new cosponsor – Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) – signed on to the No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act (H.R. 2745), bringing the total up to twenty-six. If signed into law, the bill would prevent Social Security credits from being earned by work done illegally. Currently, those who receive "green cards" or work authorization may file a claim for Social Security benefits based on all earnings – even earnings from jobs where they used stolen, invalid, or fraudulent Social Security numbers. We believe that this practice must be put to an end in order to protect the integrity of the Social Security program. .High Cost of Illegal Work for Social Security Trust Fund .One rule, known as "most favored nation," would require Medicare to tie the prices it pays for drugs to those paid by other wealthy countries. The other rule would limit rebates paid to middle men (called "pharmacy benefit managers" or "PBMs") by drug makers in Medicare. .The proposal is not new. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan supported a similar proposal in the late 1990s. In fact, it's one of a series of technical changes to the CPI recommended by the Boskin Commission in 1996 — which said that the CPI overstates inflation and that the COLA overpays seniors by about 1.1%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics busily instituted a number of those changes from 1995 through 2000 that, by my estimates, have already cut the rate of growth in the CPI and average Social Security benefits, compared to previous CPI measurement methodology by about 5 annually over the past ten years. If Congress were to adopt the chained CPI to calculate COLA starting with the COLA payable in 2012, that would additionally cut the growth in average benefits by about ,429 over the next ten years.