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After being defeated last week, the push for expanded healthcare is already underway for the coming session, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the fate of 1 point three million Floridians health insurance, which is in the hands of the US Supreme Court, could speed up the debate.

When Amy Datz retired from the state, her health insurance jumped to 16 hundred dollars a month.”

“My pension was only 22. How many of you could live on $400 a month?” asks Datz.

So Datz and her husband enrolled in Obamacare. “We saved ten thousand dollars year in health care costs” she says.

Now the future of her reduced health insurance and that of one point three million other Floridians is in question. The US Supreme Court is considering whether subsidies can be legally be provided in states without a heath exchange. We asked State Representative Ed Narain (D-Tampa) how serious he considered the threat.

There are potentially tens of thousands of people in the Tampa area that will lose healthcare?” “And that would be disastrous” says Narain.

One concern is that if the plan is ruled unconstitutional, those one point three million Floridians will end up here in the emergency room.

Under the healthcare plan that was passed by the state Senate and blocked by the House, Florida would have had an exchange. Now, without one, State Senator Renee Garcia of Miami, the man who crafted the plan to reimburse hospitals for uncompensated care, says the problem could only get worse.

“We’re waiting to see what the decision is when it comes out, and  it’s a serious concern. You know, it;s one point three million people that will be left without insurance in the state of Florida” says Garcia.

The court ruling is expected before the end of the month. But State lawmakers aren’t back at the Capitol until September.

House minority leader Mark Pafford is suggesting that if the court rules against health subsidies not provided by state exchanges, Florida lawmakers will have to come back to the Capitol for yet another summer special session.