Florida has been debating the fate of its no-fault system for years, but the 2025 legislative session pushed that issue further than we have seen in a long time. If you have ever been in a crash here, you already know how central PIP is to the way claims work. Under Florida Statute 627.736, every driver must carry Personal Injury Protection, and that coverage pays your medical bills first-no questions asked about who caused the accident. It has been that way for decades. This year, lawmakers advanced bills that would wipe out the PIP requirement entirely and replace it with a traditional fault-based model, with the person causing an accident becoming financially responsible for the injuries.
Two bills, in particular-HB 1181 and SB 1256-outline what that change would look like. Both bills repeal core pieces of the Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law, eliminate mandatory PIP benefits, and replace them with higher bodily-injury liability requirements. Analysts reviewing the bills pointed out that drivers likely would have to carry at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in bodily-injury coverage. Some reporting around the Capitol even noted a July 1, 2026 target date for phasing out the no-fault system, although nothing becomes official until both chambers agree and the Governor signs off.
But if you’re wondering why lawmakers want to get rid of PIP after all these years, the truth is that the no-fault system has taken a beating. Fraud in PIP has been widespread for decades-staged crashes, inflated medical billing, clinics built solely around exploiting those $10,000 benefits. At the same time, people with serious injuries often found the system frustrating because PIP caps you at $10,000 and then leaves you to chase the at-fault driver’s insurance. Repeal supporters believe that switching to a fault-based system forces the responsible driver’s insurer to step up sooner and eliminates the endless PIP litigation that has clogged Florida courts.
But it’s not all upside: The moment PIP disappears, people lose that automatic medical coverage that kicks in right after a crash. Instead of submitting bills to your own insurer and getting paid quickly, you would have to wait for the at-fault carrier to investigate the accident and accept responsibility. That means delays in treatment – or long reimbursement fights. There’s also a concern that premiums won’t drop the way people expect. Some drivers might see small savings because PIP goes away, but others could see higher costs because bodily-injury coverage and uninsured-motorist coverage become more important. Opponents of repeal worry that the transition period could push more drivers onto the road with inadequate insurance.
Medical providers would notice an immediate difference. Providers today rely on PIP to pay promptly, often through assignments of benefits. Eliminate PIP, and the same clinics will now be required to interact with BI adjusters that work very differently and take far longer to settle claims. Several sections of the bills address reimbursement rules, fee schedules, and limits on attorney fees in provider disputes. At a minimum, the way accident clinics operate in Florida would look quite different the day after PIP ends.
Insurers have their challenges, too. Any significant change in the insurance code requires companies to redo policy forms and refile rates, and to retrain adjusters to an entirely new process. You can’t flip a switch and overhaul a system that’s been in place for 50 years. That’s why the proposed bills include transition language—because the Legislature understands you can’t disrupt millions of active policies overnight without creating coverage gaps.
And, predictably, for lawyers and courts, the effect will be increased litigation, particularly in the first several years. Instead of litigating PIP billing codes, attorneys will be litigating liability, causation, BI coverage, UM claims, and a host of issues that PIP previously kept out of the courtroom. This is no theory, every other fault-based state in this country went through the same adjustment when it moved away from no-fault.
So where does this leave you today? Florida’s still a no-fault state. PIP is still required. Absolutely nothing changes until a final bill passes and the Governor signs it. But if you’re a driver, now’s a good time to look at your policy and make sure you have solid BI and UM limits, in case the law does change.
And if you’re a medical provider, pay attention to updates coming from DFS and DHSMV, because reimbursement rules may be changed well in advance of anything else. And if you’re involved in an accident right now, the current PIP law applies to you regardless of what happens next session.
I am following these developments closely, as the way Florida handles accident claims may look very different in the next couple of years.
If you have been injured in an accident, call Jaime “Mr. 786Abogado” Suarez today to Get You Paid!
