You get a life and health insurance license from your state, not from a national body. The usual order is: finish any pre-licensing course your state requires, schedule and pass the state exam, complete fingerprints and a background check, apply for the license, and get appointed by an insurer before you sell its products. The details (hours, fees, passing score, even the order of the steps) change from state to state.
Who issues a life and health insurance license?
Your state’s insurance regulator does. In Texas that’s the Department of Insurance (TDI); in New York it’s the Department of Financial Services (DFS); in Florida, the Department of Financial Services; in California, the Department of Insurance (CDI); in Georgia, the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI). Each regulator contracts with a testing vendor to deliver the exam. In the five states below, that vendor is Pearson VUE (Texas, Florida, Georgia) or PSI (California, New York).
“The life and health exam” can mean one combined exam or two separate ones (Life, and Accident and Health). All five states in the table offer a combined exam, and every version mixes general insurance knowledge with your state’s own laws and rules.
Do you need a sponsor to get a life and health license?
No. You register for the exam yourself through your state’s vendor and apply for the license yourself. That’s a real difference from FINRA securities exams like the Series 6, where a member firm has to sponsor you.
Temporary licenses work differently. Georgia’s candidate handbook says a temporary license requires an insurance company to sponsor you. In Texas, TDI’s career page and the Texas handbook say a temporary license needs a licensed sponsor, which can be an insurance company, agent, or agency. The regular resident license path below doesn’t.
What are the steps to get licensed?
- Check your state’s pre-licensing requirement. Some states require a state-approved course before the exam, some only before the license issues, and Texas lists none in its handbook.
- Schedule the exam with your state’s vendor. Use the candidate handbook for your state; it lists the exam code, fee, ID rules, and retake policy.
- Pass the exam. Passing scores and question counts differ by state (see the table below).
- Complete fingerprints and a background check. Texas uses IdentoGO, Florida and California use Live Scan, and Georgia uses IdentoGO after you apply.
- Apply for the license. Texas and Georgia direct applicants to Sircon, Florida uses DFS MyProfile, and California and New York accept applications through their regulators. NIPR is the multistate clearinghouse producers use to apply for and renew licenses electronically, and it lists each state’s transaction fees.
- Get appointed. Florida’s handbook says agents must be appointed by an insurance company through eAppoint. Texas’s handbook says each insurer you represent files a notice of appointment with TDI.
Watch your deadlines between steps 3 and 5. Texas gives you 12 months after passing to apply, Florida and California treat a passing score as valid for one year, and New York gives you two years.
How do the requirements compare in five big states?
This table covers the combined life and health exam in five large states. Check your own state’s handbook before you book anything.
| Texas | Florida | California | New York | Georgia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exam vendor | Pearson VUE | Pearson VUE | PSI | PSI | Pearson VUE |
| Pre-licensing | None listed in the handbook | 60-hour approved course within 4 years | 12-hour ethics course before the license issues | 40 hours (20 life + 20 A&H) before the exam | 16 hours (8 life + 8 A&S) within 12 months |
| Questions | See TDI handbook | 165 (150 scored) | 150 scored, plus about 1 to 10 unscored | 150, plus 5 to 10 experimental | 135 (125 scored) |
| Time | 150 minutes | 2.75 hours | 195 minutes | 2.5 hours | 2.5 hours |
| Passing score | Scaled score of 70 | 70% | 60% | 70% | 70% |
Sources: the Texas, Florida, and Georgia Pearson VUE candidate handbooks; the PSI bulletins for California and New York; New York DFS pre-licensing rules; and Georgia’s 2025 pre-licensing rule change.
A few notes on reading it. Texas reports a scaled score from 0 to 100, so its 70 isn’t a percentage. Florida’s 60-hour course is the standard route to the “2-15” license; its DFS instructions also allow a 30-hour life plus 40-hour health combination or certain designations. Georgia cut its requirement from 20 hours per line to 8 hours per line in 2025.
For what each license costs in these states, see the life and health license cost guide.
Does California still require 52 hours of pre-licensing?
No. California’s AB 943 repealed the 20-hour product courses. Since January 1, 2026, the only remaining pre-licensing requirement is the 12-hour Ethics and California Insurance Code course, according to a CDI notice from November 10, 2025 and the March 2026 PSI bulletin. You can take that course after the exam; it must be done before the license issues.
CDI’s own Life and A&H FAQ page still lists 32 hours for one line and 52 hours for both. That page is out of date. Go by the notice and the current bulletin.
Does a prep course count toward your state’s pre-licensing hours?
Only if your state approved it for that purpose. Florida, New York, Georgia, and California all require courses from state-approved providers. CertFuel’s Life and Health course is a general-knowledge study course: it doesn’t cover state-specific insurance law and doesn’t satisfy any state’s pre-licensing education requirement. If your state requires hours, finish them with an approved provider and use CertFuel alongside them for practice.
Should you get the life license, the health license, or both?
It depends on what you plan to sell. Life insurance and annuities fall under the life line; disability, medical expense, Medicare supplement, and long-term care fall under accident and health. New agents can take the combined exam so they can do both. The life vs. health license guide breaks down the choice, and the life and health vs. property and casualty guide covers the other main license family.
How can you prepare for the general-knowledge part?
Every state exam shares a core of general knowledge: policy types, provisions and riders, beneficiaries, annuities, underwriting, health plans, disability income, Medicare, and long-term care. Texas makes the split visible: 100 of its 130 scored questions are general knowledge and 30 are Texas-specific.
CertFuel’s Life and Health course covers that general-knowledge core in 20 units across three chapters, with 1,700+ practice questions, 600+ flashcards, and separate 50-question Life and Health diagnostics. It’s available in Free Beta. Pair it with your state’s candidate handbook for the state law portion, and start with the study guide or check how hard the exam is before you book a date.