As the 2021 legislative session nears the end, the Florida House and Senate are tackling medical malpractice, with lawmakers moving forward with bills that would change a long-standing no-fault insurance program for infants with neurological injuries.

The proposals deal with the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, widely known as NICA, that was set up in the 1980s to pay for care of children born with brain or spinal-cord injuries. The program has drawn heavy attention recently because of  a series of reports in the Miami Herald.

The House and Senate bills have differences, but they both contain provisions that representatives of NICA and the insurance industry say are problematic.