Skip to main content
An independent reference. No exam owner, regulator or test vendor runs, funds or reviews it.3 fields · 5 exams · sources re-read Nov 6, 2026
Credential House

Life and health insurance license, from course to renewal

Source: state candidate bulletins and handbooks Verified Nov 6, 2026

A life and health insurance license is a state insurance producer license with the life and accident & health (sickness) lines. No national version exists: your state's insurance department writes the exam, sets the pass mark and the fees, and hands the testing to Pearson VUE, PSI or Prometric.

On this page · 10 sections
  1. The license and its exam, in one table
  2. Two lines of authority, tested once or twice
  3. How to become a life insurance agent, in order
  4. Which exam each state gives
  5. Keeping the license active
  6. Try 4 questions from the general part
  7. More on the life and health exam
  8. Other licensing exams in finance and insurance
  9. Sources
  10. Life and health license: short answers

The license and its exam, in one table

FactDetailSource
Exam ownerEach state's insurance department, which contracts the exam to Pearson VUE, PSI or Prometric There is no national life and health exam. Each state writes its own outline and sets its own pass mark and fees.Texas Insurance Candidate Handbook +2
Credential or licenseA state insurance producer license with the life and accident & health (sickness) lines In 8 of the 11 states we checked, both lines are tested in one combined exam; North Carolina, Illinois and Tennessee test each line separately.Texas Insurance Candidate Handbook +5
Exam in your stateA combined Life, Accident & Health exam in 8 of the 11 states we checked; two separate exams in North Carolina, Illinois and TennesseeNorth Carolina Insurance Candidate Handbook +3
AccreditationNot an accredited certification: a state licensing exam required by lawTexas Insurance Candidate Handbook +1
Test providerPearson VUE, PSI or Prometric, depending on the stateTexas Insurance Candidate Handbook +2
Who can sitAt least 18 years old; some states require pre-licensing education and fingerprints before or after the examOhio insurance licensing candidate information bulletin +2
Required educationSet by each state: none in some states, 20 hours per line in Ohio and New York, 20 hours per line plus 12 hours of ethics in California Georgia requires 8 hours for life and 8 for accident and sickness.Ohio insurance licensing candidate information bulletin +3
Exam feeVaries by state: about $40 to $92 per exam Examples: New York $40, Florida $44, Texas $49, Georgia $67, Illinois $92 per line when its general and state exams are booked on one order. In states with two exams you pay for each.New York insurance candidate information bulletin +2
Passing scoreSet by each state; most require 70, but California requires 60% A scaled 70 (Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Tennessee) is not 70% correct. Florida, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania require 70% of the questions.Texas Insurance Candidate Handbook +9
How long a pass countsFrom 1 to 2 years: 1 year in Texas, Florida and California, 2 years in New York If you do not complete the license application in time, you take the exam again.Texas Insurance Candidate Handbook +3
Renewal cycleUsually every 2 years, set by the state ≈ as of Nov 6, 2026 · set by your stateTexas Insurance Candidate Handbook +1
To renewState continuing education for each renewal, usually including ethics hoursTexas Insurance Candidate Handbook +1

Every row verified Nov 6, 2026. Question counts, timing and retakes by state: exam facts · vendors and fees: booking and cost.

Two lines of authority, tested once or twice

A producer license lists the lines you may sell. The life line covers life policies and annuities; the accident and health (sickness) line covers disability income, medical expense, long-term care and similar products.

How the pair is tested depends on where you live. The usual pattern: a combined Life, Accident & Health exam in 8 of the 11 states we checked; two separate exams in North Carolina, Illinois and Tennessee. In a two-exam state you book, pay for and pass each line separately. Several combined-exam states, California, New York and Pennsylvania among them, also sell a single-line exam to anyone who wants the life line alone.

Property and casualty needs its own license and exam, and mortgage lending runs on the national SAFE test instead; the insurance and mortgage licensing overview maps those routes.

How to become a life insurance agent, in order

In most of the 11 states we checked the steps run in the order below. A few flip the start: North Carolina wants the license application filed before you book, and Florida approves the application before it authorizes the exam. The hours, fees and deadlines inside each step are the state's.

  1. Check the education rule, which is set by each state: none in some states, 20 hours per line in Ohio and New York, 20 hours per line plus 12 hours of ethics in California.
  2. Schedule the exam. Book with your state's exam vendor; some states require a pre-licensing certificate before you can schedule. The booking page has the vendor and fee for each state.
  3. Take the exam. The vendor reports pass or fail at the end of the session.
  4. Apply to the state online and pay its license fee. Fingerprints go through the vendor your state names, before or after the exam as the state orders it.
  5. Do it while the pass still counts, 1–2 years depending on the state. Miss the window and you test again.
  6. Get appointed by an insurer before you sell. In Florida a license without an appointment is not valid.
Read the exam code before you pay

Vendor catalogs list many insurance exams for each state, and the names sit close together: life only, accident and health only, the combined exam, and the adjuster and property lines. Booking the wrong code means paying a second fee. Match the code on your state's row, such as 2-15 in Florida or 12-GA-05 in Georgia, to the lines you want on the license.

Which exam each state gives

StateExam in your stateTest providerWhere you testSource
Arizona secondary source Prometric handbook not reachable≈ 13-33≈ Prometric—Arizona insurance licensing guideArizona insurance license exam
CaliforniaCombined L&HPSITest center onlyCalifornia insurance candidate information bulletinLife Agent license requirements
Florida2-15Pearson VUETest centerFlorida Insurance Candidate HandbookFlorida content outlines
Georgia12-GA-05Pearson VUETest centerGeorgia Insurance Candidate HandbookGeorgia content outlines effective Oct 22
IllinoisLife + A&H (separate)Pearson VUETest centerIllinois Insurance Candidate HandbookIllinois content outlines
North CarolinaLife + A&H (separate)Pearson VUETest centerNorth Carolina Insurance Candidate HandbookNorth Carolina content outlines effective Mar 2
New York17-55PSITest center or onlineNew York insurance candidate information bulletin
Ohio11-35PSITest center onlyOhio insurance licensing candidate information bulletin
Pennsylvania16-03PSITest center or onlinePennsylvania insurance licensing examination bookletPennsylvania insurance licensing requirements
TennesseeLife + A&H (separate)Pearson VUETest center or onlineTennessee Insurance Candidate HandbookTennessee content outlines effective Oct 7
TexasLAH05Pearson VUETest centerTexas Insurance Candidate HandbookTexas content outlines effective Sept 1

11 states. Each row was verified on Nov 6, 2026 against the document named in its Source cell. “≈” marks a value that is approximate or only partly confirmed by the cited document. A “secondary source” tag means that row’s marked values come from a third-party publication, not the state’s own bulletin. Each row comes from that state's candidate bulletin; a dash means the bulletin we read does not say. Arizona rows rely on secondary sources.

Question counts, time limits and pass marks for each state sit on the exam facts page: Texas, Florida 2-15, California, Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Arizona.

Keeping the license active

Insurance licenses renew on a cycle that is usually every 2 years, set by the state. Each renewal asks for continuing education, usually with ethics hours among them, and the fee and deadline are your department's own.

Hours, the ethics share and the reporting date differ from state to state, so go by the renewal notice your department sends rather than a national checklist.

Try 4 questions from the general part

4 questions in this set · 0 answeredRunning tally: 0 of 0 correct
Question 1 of 4 · Life policies · 10–15%

In a sole proprietor's buy-sell plan, the life policy on the owner is usually owned by and payable to the:

  1. Owner's spouse as the surviving heir of the business
    The spouse is a likely heir, not the purchaser; paying the heir would hand over money while nobody is obligated to take over the business.
  2. Sole proprietor's own estate
    The estate is the seller in this plan and receives the purchase price from the buyer; making it the beneficiary would leave the buyer with nothing to pay with.
  3. Business as a separate entity
    An entity plan needs a business that exists apart from its owner; a sole proprietorship cannot buy itself back, so this borrows a corporate setup that does not fit here.
  4. Person who agreed to buy the business
    A sole proprietorship has no existence apart from its owner, so the buyer named in the agreement owns the policy, pays for it and collects the proceeds to fund the purchase.

Select an answer to record it. The card then marks the key and opens the reasoning under every choice.

Question 2 of 4 · Life provisions · 9–12%

A life insurer may postpone paying a cash surrender value or granting a policy loan (other than a premium loan) for up to:

  1. 6 months
    Nonforfeiture law lets an insurer delay paying a cash surrender value, or granting a loan that is not for premiums, for up to six months after the request.
  2. 12 months
    A full year overstates the deferral; the permitted delay on cash values and non-premium loans is half that.
  3. 60 days
    Sixty days appears in other policy rules, such as the wait before a policyowner may sue on a health claim, and is shorter than the allowed deferral.
  4. 31 days
    Thirty-one days is the familiar grace period for paying a life premium, not the deferral allowed on surrender values.
Question 3 of 4 · Health policies · 11–16%

A medical plan requires approval before a nonemergency hospital admission. This cost-control feature is called:

  1. Subrogation
    Subrogation lets the insurer recover what it paid from a third party who caused the loss, after the claim rather than before the admission.
  2. Assignment of benefits
    An assignment directs the plan to pay the provider instead of the insured; it controls who receives payment, not whether a stay is approved.
  3. Precertification
    Requiring approval before a planned admission is precertification, a utilization review step meant to prevent unneeded inpatient stays.
  4. Coordination of benefits
    Coordination of benefits decides which of two plans pays first when a person is covered twice; it has nothing to do with approving admissions.
Question 4 of 4 · State law · 10–33%

In most states, a producer who gives a prospect a promotional pen or calendar of small value while discussing a policy has:

  1. Committed rebating, since any gift is an inducement
    This overstates the rule: rebating is an offer of something of value not stated in the policy, and most states carve out nominal advertising items.
  2. Acted lawfully, since such giveaways are allowed
    Most states permit promotional items of small value, so handing out a pen or calendar is lawful and is not a real inducement tied to the policy.
  3. Committed twisting, since the gift influences the sale
    Twisting means misrepresentation to induce a replacement; handing out a pen involves no false statement and no replacement.
  4. Acted lawfully only if the prospect declines the policy
    Whether the prospect buys does not decide the question; a small advertising item is permitted whether or not a sale follows.

More on the life and health exam

Other licensing exams in finance and insurance

Sources

  1. [1]Pearson VUE: Texas Insurance Candidate Handbook (124400, Oct 2024) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  2. [2]PSI: California insurance candidate information bulletin (2530, rev. Oct 2026) test-takers.psiexams.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  3. [3]Pearson VUE: Florida Insurance Candidate Handbook (121000) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  4. [4]PSI: New York insurance candidate information bulletin (7228) test-takers.psiexams.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  5. [5]Pearson VUE: North Carolina Insurance Candidate Handbook (123400) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  6. [6]Pearson VUE: Illinois Insurance Candidate Handbook (121400, Aug 2026) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  7. [7]Pearson VUE: Tennessee Insurance Candidate Handbook (124300, Oct 2026) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  8. [8]PSI: Ohio insurance licensing candidate information bulletin (5493) test-takers.psiexams.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  9. [9]Pearson VUE: Georgia Insurance Candidate Handbook (121100, Oct 2026) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  10. [10]PSI: Pennsylvania insurance licensing examination booklet (7282) test-takers.psiexams.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  11. [11]Achievable: Arizona insurance licensing guide (secondary source) achievable.me, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  12. [12]StateRequirement: Arizona insurance license exam (secondary source) staterequirement.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  13. [13]California Department of Insurance: Life Agent license requirements insurance.ca.gov, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  14. [14]Pearson VUE: Florida content outlines, 2026 and Jan 1, 2027 editions (121003) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  15. [15]Pearson VUE: Georgia content outlines effective Oct 22, 2024 (121102) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  16. [16]Pearson VUE: Illinois content outlines, 2026 and 2027 editions (121402) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  17. [17]Pearson VUE: North Carolina content outlines effective Mar 2, 2026 (123415) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  18. [18]ExamFX: Pennsylvania insurance licensing requirements (secondary source) examfx.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  19. [19]Pearson VUE: Tennessee content outlines effective Oct 7, 2026 (124301) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026
  20. [20]Pearson VUE: Texas content outlines effective Sept 1, 2026 (124401) (PDF) pearsonvue.com, re-read Nov 6, 2026

Life and health license: short answers

Is a life insurance license the same as a health insurance license?

No. They are two lines of authority on the same producer license. Many states test them together in one exam, while North Carolina, Illinois and Tennessee test each line on its own.

Can I get a life-only license?

Yes, where the state sells a single-line exam. California, New York, Pennsylvania and Arizona list one beside the combined exam; the state notes give the codes.

What does the life and health exam cost?

The exam itself runs $40–$92 per attempt, depending on the state. Fingerprints and the license application are extra; the cost breakdown lists them.

Does passing the exam give me the license?

No. After a pass you still apply to the state, clear its background check and pay its fee within the window it allows (1–2 years, depending on the state). Selling also takes an appointment from an insurer.