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Tooth decay can begin very early in a child’s life. If five states ban fluoride in drinking water, the costs to Medicaid for a significant increase in kids with cavities could top $40 million within three years, a new analysis finds. CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, a nonprofit which advocates for fluoridation, used Medicaid claims data and survey responses to predict the outcomes if the five states — Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma — stopped adding fluoride to water systems. (Edwards, 3/19)

Two dozen states, along with more than a dozen cities and counties, sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, challenging the Trump administration’s repeal of a scientific finding that had been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. A rule finalized by the EPA last month revoked the 2009 endangerment finding that determined carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The Obama-era finding had been the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet. (Daly, 3/19)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Oz Escalates Medicaid Fraud Claims Against States After Focus On Minnesota

The Trump administration has signaled a willingness to halt billions of dollars in federal health payments to multiple states, mirroring moves they made against Minnesota. The specific target is Medicaid, the public health insurance program that pairs state and federal money. Federal officials have announced unprecedented actions in Minnesota this year, declaring they could withhold over $2 billion in payments slated for the state and claw back nearly $260 million from last year. (Sable-Smith, 3/20)

Maya Kowalski, the woman at the center of the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” has filed a sworn declaration in court proceedings accusing former family attorney Greg Anderson of inappropriate comments and interactions while he represented her, explosive allegations that could reshape the already turbulent next phase of the long-running case arising from her treatment at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. (Barfield, 3/19)

The dangerous heat wave shattering March records all over the U.S. Southwest is more than just another extreme weather blip. It’s the latest next-level weather wildness that is occurring ever more frequently as Earth’s warming builds. Experts said unprecedented and deadly weather extremes that sometimes strike at abnormal times and in unusual places are putting more people in danger. For example, the Southwest is used to coping with deadly heat, but not months ahead of schedule, including a 110-degree Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) reading in the Arizona desert on Thursday that smashed the highest March temperature recorded in the U.S. (Borenstein, 3/20)

New York state has launched a pilot program to integrate firearm access and injury risk screening into emergency department visits. The initiative, supported by a $1.5 million investment from the New York State Office of Gun Violence Prevention, expands New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention program to providers at three hospitals, according to a March 19 news release from Gov. Kathy Hochul. (Kuchno, 3/19)

A Missouri appeals court is weighing whether the City of St. Louis can require gun owners to lock up their firearms if they want to leave them in an unattended parked vehicle. (Lippmann, 3/19)