Axios

Michael Pearson, former CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, cashed in $72.5 million worth of stock and severance pay in 2016 even as he and the drug company were under federal investigation for accounting fraud and a billing scheme tied to a specialty pharmacy it secretly owned.

Pearson took home $60.5 million in stock and the rest in severance pay and other benefits, Valeant disclosed Thursday to the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also still used Valeant's corporate jet. Joseph Papa replaced Pearson last year, and Papa earned $62.7 million even though Valeant remains mired in trouble.

Valeant's stock has cratered since the middle of 2015, and it has become a pariah in the pharmaceutical industry. Pearson led Valeant since 2008, building the company up on the controversial practice of acquiring drugs and jacking up the prices.

House leadership has been hoping that President Trump would turn the screws on the Freedom Caucus. They'd love nothing more than for Trump to threaten Freedom Caucus members like Mark Meadows with primary challenges. In fact, they were banking on Trump doing that. They thought he could break the Freedom Caucus.

The emerging reality: Trump is doing nothing of the sort. He was joking when he told Meadows in the GOP conference meeting earlier this week that he'd come after him. And in today's White House meeting Trump did not brow-beat the Freedom Caucus members or make a hard sell on a "final offer."

According to three sources in the room for the meeting, Trump didn't demand loyalty tests, and there was lots of laughing, jokes, and stories.

"He is not being heavy handed," said a White House official. "[The House Freedom Caucus] made clear all week they appreciate respect and engagement from the White House but are upset that they feel leadership excludes them."

The House will not hold a vote on the American Health Care Act today.

However there will be procedural votes tonight, and the GOP will hold a conference meeting at 7 pm to discuss the next steps.

The White House has expressed confidence the bill will pass tomorrow morning, and claims the delay was because they wanted to hold the vote "in the light of day." However, GOP members say there's been no decision on whether to hold a vote tomorrow.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi ripped into GOP's Obamacare replacement vote at her presser on Thursday, calling it a "moral monstrosity that will devastate Seniors and hard-working Americans," adding:

Stripping guaranteed maternity care is a pregnancy tax pure and simple.

Pelosi rounded out her argument by warning Trump about how the red states that voted for him will experience hardship in affording healthcare under this bill.

The Obama-Trump factor: Pelosi called the vote on Trumpcare on the 7th anniversary of Obamacare a "rookie's error," saying "you're clearly not ready."

President Trump and Paul Ryan can lose no more than 22 Republican votes in order for the American Health Care Act to pass the House tonight. But every whip count out there this morning spells bad news.

As of this morning, the AHCA looks dead. But there's still a House Freedom Caucus meeting with Trump before lunchtime. That meeting, and additional changes to the bill, could significantly change these counts.

Axios counts 28 "no" votes right now. Some other whip counts:

The health care deals that grab the most attention involve pharmaceuticals, insurance or hospitals. But there's quietly been massive consolidation among ambulatory surgery centers — outpatient facilities where physicians perform routine procedures, such as elbow or cataract surgeries, and get patients back home in less than a day.

Why there's been a buying spree: More care is being done in the outpatient setting, since it's less expensive than getting the same care inside a hospital. Yet, surgery centers are very lucrative because they don't handle emergency procedures. The business model resembles a high-profit assembly line: Schedule as many quick, elective surgeries as possible, mostly for people who have better-paying commercial health insurance. Here are some telling 2016 figures from the biggest surgery center chains, according to each company's latest financial filing:

President Trump, Mike Pence and other GOP leaders pulled out all the stops yesterday in attempts to persuade 20 or so Republican lawmakers to vote for the repeal and replace plan on Thursday, NYT reports. Trump even promised to consider reversing Obama's opening with Cuba if Representative Mario Diaz-Balart from Florida voted for the bill.

In a private meeting, Trump threatened congressmen would lose their seats if they didn't vote "yes," but as of today, he still hasn't locked down the votes in the House.

Why it matters: Both parties almost always cut deals to get those last few votes, but Democrats got hammered for the deals they made to pass Obamacare. Now the GOP dealmaking is on display -- and there's probably going to be more leading up to tomorrow's Trumpcare vote.

President Trump didn't sugarcoat the political consequences of a vote against the House Obamacare replacement bill on Thursday. "I honestly think many of you will lose your seats in 2018 if you don't get this done," he told House Republicans, per a source in the room.

True enough, but these members also could lose their seats and the House majority if they do vote to pass the bill currently being considered. So they're left with a terrible choice: Vote against Obamacare repeal after campaigning on repeal for seven years, or vote to cover 24 million fewer people and potentially raise premiums for senior citizens.