Medicare's payment system could freeze up if President Barack Obama?s healthcare law is summarily overturned, the administration has quietly informed the courts. Medicare was overlooked in Supreme Court arguments that focused on the law's controversial requirement that individuals carry health insurance. In papers filed with the Supreme Court, administration lawyers have warned of "extraordinary disruption" if Medicare is forced to unwind countless transactions that are based on payment changes required by more than 20 separate sections of the Affordable Care Act.
