Kavanaugh has been grilled on his clerkship for Judge Kozinski.

What we reported this morning: Alex Azar also clerked for Kozinski — and his abrupt departure is how Kavanaugh got the job. It’s also the latest example of how Kavanaugh and Azar’s professional lives have intersected, again and again.

The Yale Law graduates - and close friends - clerked on the Supreme Court together, worked on Starr investigation together and both joined Bush v. Gore legal team.

SCOOP: Trump administration prepping more controversial Medicaid changes that could lead to tens of thousands additional people losing coverage. politico.com/story/2018/08/… For instance, Trump team is poised to tell Native Americans that they may have to get jobs to keep their health care — an explosive issue, given centuries-old U.S. promises to the tribes. politico.com/story/2018/08/…

Organizer kicking off #BeAHero rally in Bristol, Vermont, asks why there needs to be another military branch devoted to space when Americans don’t have health care. @MariInTheHouse, @AdyBarkan and @SenSanders scheduled to speak soon. Not sure I’ve seen this before: @MariInTheHouse, nurse running for state rep, introduces her three rivals for Dem primary and lets them each plug their campaign pages. Says she “feels like I have three new brothers.”

• Suppressing or altering reports
• Nixing “LGBT health” and adding anti-abortion language
• Deleting positive references to the ACA

Inside the HHS research shop that’s been repurposed under Trump.
politico.com/story/2018/07/… Under Trump, the 120-person research office — filled with career civil servants — has produced multiple reports over staff objections. (The reports were quickly debunked by fact-checkers.) politico.com/story/2018/07/…

NEW: The health department is quietly spending tens of millions of dollars on Trump’s migrant fiasco, siphoning money away from other priorities. politico.com/story/2018/07/… HHS was planning to move around $263 million to pay for unaccompanied kids program — until media scrutiny exploded last month and they decided to pause.

Given the internal deficits they’re creating, HHS will still need to move that money. politico.com/story/2018/07/…

I ran by the Newseum’s wall of 50 state newspapers, with front pages from around the nation.

Two takeaways:
- Unlike national media’s focus on Russia, local papers collectively focused much more on health care problems.

- Most of those health care problems were opioid-related. For instance, here’s the front page of the South Dakota @argusleader’s Sunday edition — probably the most-read issue all week.

Note how the paper covers both the Russia investigation and opioids. (And which gets more play.)

TOM PRICE took 20 trips that broke federal rules in his short tenure as HHS secretary, gov report finds.

Overall spent $1.2 million on travel.

Agency wants to recover at least $341,000 in spending that was often “extravagant, careless.” politico.com/story/2018/07/… w @rachanadixit Among the waste identified by HHS’ own auditors

— $36k for a three-day charter jet trip that only had 3.5 hours of official mtgs

— $12k for a personal flight to Georgia resort island where Price owned land

— $254k for failing to check for lower-cost travel options

Alex Azar claims his agency’s care of migrant children is "one of the great acts of American generosity and charity."

His critics say he’s spouting “gibberish.” politico.com/story/2018/07/… Azar’s also enjoyed the support of Trump all year — some choice quotes below — and is working hard to keep the president’s favor through the migrant crisis. No sign yet of any rupture.

The Yale law professor who wrote “A Liberal’s Case for Brett Kavanaugh” in the NYT — and proposed that Senate Democrats pledge to vote for Kavanaugh if he answers questions honestly — has a history of floating unrealistic reforms. mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/opi… Ahead of the 2016 election, he wrote an extended piece on how Trump and Pence should flip roles on the ticket. vox.com/the-big-idea/2…

I love running by the Newseum to check their wall of 50 state papers — especially when Congress is on recess, to see what lawmakers are reading when home. Here are a few front pages that caught my eye. Here’s the front page of Maine’s @PressHerald, which says (1) pharmacy benefit managers are putting patients at risk for profit (2) Susan Collins’ reasoning on Trump and Roe v. Wade “withers under scrutiny.”

It’s Independence Day, so I wanted to post a few tweets about something that gets relatively little attention: independence for the elderly. The demographic trends are pretty clear. About 10,000 Americans per day are turning 65.

By 2030, there will be more older people than children here — the first time in U.S. history, the Census projected. census.gov/newsroom/press…

Gavin Smith, one of the gov’t officials in this story, goes by @iamgavinjames and locked his account after the piece published. But before he did, we found dozens of recent tweets insulting Trump’s rivals, endorsing Trump’s allies and mocking the press. politico.com/story/2018/06/… Here’s Smith repeatedly weighing in on South Carolina politics as a federal employee, sometimes during the workday — raising questions of Hatch Act violations.

** Judge orders Trump administration to reunite migrant families within 30 days. ** politico.com/story/2018/06/… Judge Dana Sabraw with scathing criticism on process of separating, tracking families — “under the present system migrant children are not accounted for with the same efficiency and accuracy as property.”

1) New data on the uninsured came out this morning, and most headlines have focused on the overall rate staying the same. About 9% of Americans were uninsured in 2017, roughly the same as 2015-2016.

But I think there’s an important data point that most folks missed. 2) Notably, the coverage gap got wider between states that accepted the ACA expansion and states that rejected it.

NEW: Native Americans say they should be exempt from Medicaid work requirements. The Trump admin disagrees — an attempt to renegotiate centuries-old protections. politico.com/story/2018/04/… The Trump administration repeatedly rejected the tribes’ request, arguing that they’re seeking an illegal preference - and that HHS sees them as a “race,” not a separate government. politico.com/story/2018/04/…

SCOOP: Trump administration finalizing opioid plan that includes death penalty for drug dealers. politico.com/story/2018/03/… Long-developing plan includes numerous policies that White House says will collectively ↓ opioid prescriptions by one-third. politico.com/story/2018/03/…

Scoop: Teresa Manning — the anti-abortion activist who was put in charge of Title X — was physically escorted from HHS premises today. Abortion-rights groups had been furious that Manning — who once said that “contraception doesn’t work” — was helping set national strategy for contraception and abortion.

1) If you’re just catching up on TOM PRICE’s jet trips — here’s what @rachanadixit and I reported, and here’s how HHS’s story has evolved. 2) We first identified 5 trips over 3 days, including trip to Maine resort and DC ↔ Philly for $25000. politico.com/story/2017/09/… @rachanadixit