What This License Is
"Life & Health" in Colorado is not one licence and not one exam. It is two lines of authority — Life and Accident & Health — listed together on your single Colorado Producer licence, and Colorado makes you earn each of them separately.
That means, in order: a 50-hour Division-approved pre-licensing course for Life, and another 50 for Accident & Health; the Life exam; the Accident & Health exam; and an application listing both lines at $44 each. There is no combined sitting, no reduced course for the second line, and no discount for doing both. The only concession the regulation makes is that the 3 hours of ethics inside each 50 are taken only once if you are applying for more than one line.
Producers arriving from a state where one 150-question paper buys both authorities consistently underestimate this — the coursework alone is 100 hours before you sit anything.
What the pair covers: the Life line takes in life insurance and fixed and indexed annuities, with variable products a separate authority requiring FINRA registration; the Accident & Health line takes in medical, disability, Medicare supplement, dental and vision, and — with a further 16 hours of training — long-term care.
Exam Options & Format
Each exam is a single Pearson VUE sitting containing two sections — General Knowledge and Colorado-specific — with no separate state-law appointment. Life is 50 scored general plus 30 scored Colorado, 90 items in all. Accident & Health is the same 50 plus 30, across 91 items. Together that is 160 scored questions in two appointments.
Both are scored on a scale, and Colorado publishes no cut score. Raw scores convert to a scaled score between 0 and 100, and the handbook states that the number reported "is neither the number of questions you answered correctly nor the percentage of questions you answered correctly." Nothing in the handbook, the content outlines, the Division's pages or 3 CCR 702-1-2-10-5 sets a numeric standard — the regulation says only that applicants "shall pass the examination as approved by the Commissioner." Numeric scores are reported to failing candidates only.
Neither has a published time limit. The handbook's only statement is that "the time allotted for each examination varies." Colorado also publishes no exam series or code numbers for any of its insurance exams.
Both are test-center only. The Division stopped accepting new registrations for online insurance licensing examinations after December 15, 2025, with the last online sittings on January 6, 2026. There are 37 physical test centers in the state. The July 2026 handbook still carries one leftover sentence about registering online — the DOI notice governs, Pearson VUE's Colorado page offers only test-center scheduling, and the handbook's fee table lists a single $41 test-center fee.
On fees, budget for two but ask at booking. The handbook prints a single "Licensing Examination — $41" row and says nothing about taking more than one exam in a session. Colorado's fee regulation, however, does provide that candidates who schedule certain examinations back-to-back may do so for a single fee. The regulation's other fee figures are demonstrably out of date, so do not plan around it — but it costs nothing to ask Pearson VUE when you book.
Most Tested Topics Across Both Colorado Exams
Sixty of your 160 scored questions are Colorado-specific — thirty on each paper. The material that spans both lines clusters around three things: what the guaranty association will pay when an insurer fails, when a client may hand a contract back, and what a producer must do when replacing one. Every row is verified against the cited statute or regulation:
| Concept | The Colorado rule |
|---|---|
| Free look, replacement transaction | 30 days from delivery, with an unconditional full refund of all premiums or considerations paid — life and annuity alike (3 CCR 702-4, Reg 4-1-4 §7) |
| Free look, Medicare supplement | 30 days after delivery, premium refunded; after that, cancellation on 30 days' notice gets a prorated refund (§ 10-18-107) |
| Free look, long-term care | 30 days after delivery, premium refunded (§ 10-19-111) |
| Free look, annuity outside a replacement | 15 days — and only conditionally. It is triggered solely where the Buyer's Guide and the disclosure document were not delivered at or before application. Deliver both on time and no 15-day right arises (Reg 4-1-12 §5.A.3) |
| Free look, ordinary non-replacement life | None. Colorado mandates no right to return a plain life policy bought outside a replacement |
| Guaranty limits, life and annuity | $300,000 net death benefit; $100,000 net cash surrender or withdrawal value; $250,000 present value of annuity benefits; $250,000 per payee on a structured settlement annuity (§ 10-20-104(3)(b)(I)) |
| Guaranty limits, health | $500,000 for a health benefit plan; $300,000 disability income; $300,000 long-term care; $100,000 for other health coverages (§ 10-20-104(3)(b)(I)(B)) |
| Guaranty aggregate per life | $300,000 — except $500,000 where health benefit plan coverage is involved. A separate $5,000,000 ceiling applies to the owner of multiple nongroup life policies (§ 10-20-104(3)(b)(II)) |
| Using the guaranty association to sell | Prohibited. No advertisement or sales inducement may use the association's existence (§ 10-20-119) |
| Replacement: the producer's clock | The notice must be presented and read to the applicant not later than at the time of taking the application, listing every policy to be replaced (Reg 4-1-4 §5) |
| Replacement: the insurers' clocks | The replacing insurer notifies the existing insurer within 5 business days; the existing insurer furnishes in-force information within 5 business days of the owner's request and keeps replacement notices 5 years (Reg 4-1-4 §§7, 8) |
| CE headline | 24 hours every two years including 3 of ethics — 24 total no matter how many lines you hold; carryover capped at 12 hours and only from the 120 days before your continuation date (3 CCR 702-1, Reg 1-2-4 §5.A) |
The free-look matrix is the highest-value thing on this page, because the intuitive answer is wrong in both directions. Colorado has no general life free look at all — the thirty days everyone remembers attaches to replacements, to Medicare supplement and to long-term care, not to an ordinary life sale. But it would be equally wrong to conclude that annuities have none: Regulation 4-1-12 creates a conditional 15-day right, triggered by the producer's own failure to deliver the Buyer's Guide and disclosure document by the time of application. Reading it as a rule about your conduct rather than about the product is the way to remember it.
The guaranty aggregate is the other reliable trap. Candidates learn "$300,000 per life" and stop. Colorado's statute layers a second aggregate on top: where health benefit plan coverage is in the mix, the ceiling rises to $500,000. And note what Colorado's life and health association does not have — a net-worth exclusion. The $10 million net-worth test belongs to the property and casualty guaranty association under § 10-4-503(4)(b)(II). Importing it into a life question is a common and confident error.
Finally, the five-business-day clocks in the replacement regulation are worth committing to memory as a pair. They are business days, not calendar days, and they run in both directions — the replacing insurer notifying the existing one, and the existing one answering the owner's request.
Colorado's 50-Hour Pre-Licensing Requirement — Every Detail
Colorado is one of roughly twenty states that will not let you near an exam until you have sat through a course, and it is at the demanding end of that group. Get this step wrong and nothing else in the process can start.
The requirement. Regulation 1-2-5 (3 CCR 702-1), made under C.R.S. § 10-2-404, requires 50 hours of Division-approved pre-licensing education for each of Property, Casualty, Combined Property & Casualty, Life, Health and Personal Lines. Every line is fifty hours; there is no shorter course for a narrower authority. For Life and Accident & Health together, that is 100 hours.
What has to be inside those 50 hours. The regulation prescribes the content, not just the total: 3 hours must be on insurance industry ethics; 3 hours must be on Colorado insurance laws and regulations that are general in nature and not related to the specific line of business; and 4 hours must be on Colorado insurance laws and regulations specifically related to the line of business. The remaining forty are line content. So ten of every fifty hours are law and ethics — and seven of those ten are Colorado law specifically, which is a good indication of how seriously the state takes the state-specific section of the exam.
The one concession for multiple lines. "For those individuals applying for more than one line of authority, the three (3) hours of Ethics need only be taken once." That is the whole of the multi-line relief. The Colorado-law hours are not shared — the 3 general hours and the 4 line-specific hours are required for each line, because the line-specific hours are, by definition, different content.
Format. "Prelicensing courses may consist either of classroom study or self-study (including online courses)." Colorado does not force you into a classroom for producer pre-licensing. (Long-term care training later is a different matter — eight of its sixteen hours must be classroom-delivered.)
Approval. "Any prelicensing course or program must be approved by the Division." Verify approval before you pay. Course approval and reporting are administered through Pearson VUE under contract with the Division rather than by the Division directly, and providers register courses through Sircon at $20 a course.
The certificate and its one-year clock. "Prelicensing certificates of completion shall be valid for a period of one (1) year from the date of completion." Sit the exam inside that year or repeat the course. This is the most expensive deadline in the whole Colorado process — far more so than the exam fee — and it is the one people let slip while they procrastinate about booking.
How the exam knows. Your provider reports your completion to Pearson VUE, but the reservation system asks you for the training school code. Have it in hand when you book; candidates are routinely stopped at that screen because they never wrote it down.
Who is exempt. Regulation 1-2-5 §10 exempts someone previously licensed for the same line or lines in a reciprocal state — but only if they are still licensed there, or the application arrives within 90 days of that home-state licence being cancelled, with a good-standing certification. The candidate handbook states the same rule plainly: applicants "who have held a resident license in another state within the 90 days prior to submitting their Colorado application are exempt from pre-licensing training for the lines of authority that were held in their previous resident state." C.R.S. § 10-2-202 adds three more: reinstating a cancelled or expired Colorado licence inactive for one year or less; holding temporary authority under § 10-2-410; and nonresident applications.
The broader statutory route in § 10-2-403 waives the exam as well, and its structure catches people out. The exemption goes to any individual "previously licensed for the same lines of authority in this state or another state" — and the familiar twelve-month-after-cancellation condition is then attached only to nonresident applicants. Do not read that twelve months as a general deadline. If you are near any of these edges, ask the Division before paying for a course.
One more set of exemptions, and they live in the handbook rather than the regulation. The Division's candidate handbook lists pre-licensing training exemptions the regulation does not: producers holding Property and Casualty are exempt from Personal Lines pre-licensing training (though not from that exam), and a list of professional designations exempts holders from pre-licensing training for the matching lines — AAI, ARM, CIC or CPCU for property and casualty; RHU, CEBS, REBC or HIA for accident and health; and CEBS, ChFC, CIC, CFP, CLU, FLMI or LUTCF for life. Keep that list separate in your head from the statutory exam waiver in § 10-2-403, which names only CLU, CPCU, ChFC and RHU and never waives the Colorado law portion. Two different lists, doing two different jobs.
Colorado Exam Day — Check-In, ID, and the Rules That Get People Turned Away
Everything below comes from the Pearson VUE Colorado candidate handbook. None of it is discretionary, and the identification rule in particular turns candidates away at the door every week.
Arrive early — thirty minutes, not five. "Candidates must report to the test center at least thirty (30) minutes before the examination begins" to complete registration. That half hour is the check-in process, not a courtesy buffer.
Bring two forms of identification. Colorado requires two current forms of signature identification, and the primary must be government-issued with a photograph. Acceptable primary documents are a driver's licence, passport, military identification or an Alien Registration Card with a visible signature. The secondary may be a Social Security card, a debit, ATM or credit card, or a second document from the primary list. The name must match your reservation exactly — if you booked in a maiden name and carry a married-name licence, sort that out before the day, not at the desk.
Nothing comes into the room. The handbook's list is deliberately exhaustive: "No personal items are allowed in the testing room. Personal items include but are not limited to cellular phones, hand-held computers or other electronic devices, pagers, watches, wallets, purses, firearms or other weapons, hats, bags, coats, books, and/or notes." A watch counts. A hat counts. Leave everything in the car or in the centre's storage.
Changing or cancelling: 48 hours. "Call Pearson VUE at (800) 274-2616 at least forty-eight (48) hours before the examination to change or cancel a reservation." Give proper notice and the fee transfers to a new reservation or is refunded. Give none and it is gone.
Late or absent without notice. Candidates who are late or absent and have not changed or cancelled according to the policy "will not be admitted to the examination and will forfeit the examination fee." There is no grace period at the door.
Unless it is genuinely excused. Colorado's handbook lists six excusable reasons: illness of the candidate or an immediate family member; a death in the immediate family; a disabling traffic accident; a court appearance or jury duty; military duty; and a weather emergency. Written verification and supporting documentation must reach Pearson VUE within fourteen (14) days of the original examination date. Fourteen days is not long when you are ill or bereaved — send it early.
Booking, for completeness. Reserve online at pearsonvue.com/us/en/co/insurance.html or call (800) 274-2616, staffed Monday to Friday 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mountain Time. Book at least 24 hours before the date you want, with your pre-licensing school code. The $41 fee is paid at reservation by credit card, debit card or voucher — "fees will not be accepted at the test center" — and is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Leaving. You take an official score report with you before you leave the building. If you failed, wait 24 hours before rebooking — and note that "reservations for reexamination cannot be made at the test center," so you cannot rebook on your way out. The Personal Lines guide covers how to read the score report and what to do next.
Doing both exams. Because Colorado has two separate sittings for Life and Accident & Health, everything above happens twice. Nothing in the handbook provides for taking two examinations in one session or for one fee covering both, so plan two appointments, two $41 payments and two thirty-minute check-ins.
What It Costs
Colorado's Life & Health path costs about $170 in state fees on first-time passes: $41 for each of the two exams and $44 for each of the two lines of authority. There is no fingerprint cost — Colorado takes no prints from resident producers.
The number that dominates the budget is the coursework: 100 hours of Division-approved pre-licensing across the two lines, priced by the provider. Shop it before you commit, confirm the provider is Division-approved, and remember each certificate is only good for a year.
Continuation later is $27 per line of authority — $54 for both — every other year.
If long-term care is in the plan, add the 16-hour LTC training on top, of which 8 hours must be classroom-delivered. If annuities are, add the one-time 4-hour best-interest course.
Eligibility Requirements
You must be at least 18, be a Colorado resident, complete the 50-hour pre-licensing course for each line, pass both examinations, and apply with the $44 per line fee inside the one-year clocks (C.R.S. § 10-2-404).
CLU, ChFC and RHU each waive the examination except the Colorado life and health law portion; CPCU waives it except the Colorado property, casualty and health law portion (§ 10-2-403). The Colorado law portion is never waived by any designation. Keep two lists apart: the statutory exam waiver names only those four, while the candidate handbook's separate pre-licensing training exemption list is wider — AAI, ARM, CIC or CPCU for property and casualty; RHU, CEBS, REBC or HIA for accident and health; and CEBS, ChFC, CIC, CFP, CLU, FLMI or LUTCF for life. A designation on that second list waives coursework, never an exam.
Colorado does not fingerprint resident producers, so the application's background questions carry the entire background review — the Accident & Health guide covers what triggers a disclosure and what to attach.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: 24 hours every two years total — holding both Life and Accident & Health does not double it — including 3 hours of ethics counted inside the 24. Annuities require a one-time 4-hour best-interest course, and long-term care requires 16 hours one-time plus 5 classroom hours every 24 months.
Colorado licences are perpetual (C.R.S. § 10-2-408) — there is no expiring term. What there is instead is a continuation fee, $27 per line of authority, due by the last day of your birth month in the second year after issuance and every other year after that. Holding two lines means $54, not two separate cycles.
CE is 24 hours every two years including 3 hours of ethics, counted inside the 24 rather than on top (3 CCR 702-1, Reg 1-2-4 §5.A). Twenty-four is the total however many lines you carry — holding both Life and Accident & Health does not double it. Up to 12 hours carry into the next cycle, but only hours earned in the 120 days before your continuation date.
Two product-training rules ride on top of ordinary CE for this pair. Annuities require a one-time 4-credit-hour Colorado best-interest course before your first annuity sale, or a one-time 1-credit supplement if you completed an older approved annuity course (Reg 4-1-11 §6.B). Long-term care requires 16 hours one-time — 8 general plus 8 partnership-specific in a classroom setting — and then 5 classroom hours every 24 months (§ 10-19-113.6). LTC training may be approved as CE and count toward the 24, and another state's LTC training satisfies Colorado's.
The Property & Casualty guide owns the renewal mechanics — the birth-month cycle, the 10:00 p.m. Mountain Time cutoff on continuation day, and what happens if you miss it.
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