Holding Both Life and Accident & Health in Louisiana
La. R.S. 22:1546 lists life and accident and health or sickness as separate lines of authority, and Louisiana lets you earn both in one sitting: Series 103 — Louisiana Examination for Life, Health and Accident or Sickness Insurance, 150 questions in 160 minutes for $58.
The arithmetic strongly favours the combined paper. Two singles cost $72 in exam fees — $36 each for Series 101 and 102 — plus a $75 amendment to add the second line to an existing licence, on top of the original $75. Series 103 costs $58 and one $75 licence. That is about $89 saved, one fewer trip to a test center, and forty extra minutes in the chair. Since Louisiana requires no pre-licensing coursework on any path, there is no hidden course cost tilting the comparison the other way.
What Series 103 is not. It is not a bundle of the two single-line exams stapled together — it is a separate exam with its own content outline, longer and broader than either single. So "I'll just study for 101 and 102" is roughly right on content and wrong on structure; work from the 103 outline.
Variable products remain outside both lines. Variable Life and Variable Annuity is a separate Louisiana line that requires no state examination but does require your FINRA registrations — the gate there is federal, not state.
And note what this credential does not trigger: flood CE. Louisiana's 3-hour flood education requirement attaches to Property, Casualty and Personal Lines. A Life and Accident & Health producer owes 24 hours with 3 ethics and no flood component at all.
Exam Options & Format
Series 103 is 150 questions in 160 minutes for $58. No pretest or unscored items are disclosed in the content outline or the bulletin. At 160 minutes for 150 items you have just over a minute apiece — noticeably tighter than the two-hour, 100-question single-line papers, which is the real trade-off in taking the combined route.
The passing standard is a raw 70% — 105 of the 150. The outline prints "Minimum Passing Score … 70% Correct", and La. R.S. 22:1545 enacts it: "the applicant shall pass the examination if he achieves a score of at least seventy percent." Most PSI states report a scaled score; Louisiana does not, so 105 is exactly the number.
Your result is immediate. The score appears on screen and a report is emailed; a failing report carries a section-level diagnostic. The Personal Lines guide covers what that report tells you, the one-year score validity, and why Louisiana's retake rules are among the most forgiving in the country.
Retakes are unusually easy. No mandatory waiting period beyond overnight score processing, and no attempt limit. Each attempt is a fresh $58 — which is the one place the combined exam costs more than a single, so it is worth being genuinely ready. The Personal Lines guide covers results and retake strategy in full.
No remote option: "Effective 7/8/24 remote testing will no longer be offered as a testing option." The Property guide lists the nine Louisiana test centers, which the bulletin unusually prints in full.
Most Tested Topics on the Louisiana Life & Health Exam
The combined exam draws on both halves, but the Louisiana-specific questions cluster in two places: what the guaranty association pays when an insurer fails, where Louisiana departs from the NAIC model in two ways at once, and how long a buyer has to change their mind, where the replacement rule triples the ordinary window.
| Concept | The Louisiana rule |
|---|---|
| Life & health safety net | Louisiana Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association (R.S. 22:2081 et seq.) |
| Life death benefit limit | $300,000 (R.S. 22:2083(C)(2)) |
| Life cash surrender limit | $100,000 net cash surrender value |
| Annuity limit | $250,000 present value of annuity benefits |
| Health limit | A FLAT $500,000 — Louisiana does not use the tiered basic/disability/long-term-care sub-limits most states adopt |
| Aggregate per individual | $500,000 — higher than the $300,000 the NAIC model sets, and equal to the health limit rather than the life one |
| Guaranty as a sales pitch | Prohibited — using the association's existence for a solicitation or inducement (R.S. 22:2098(A)) |
| Free look, individual life | 10 days (R.S. 22:931(A)(10)) |
| Free look, annuity | 10 days — the same as life (R.S. 22:951(A)(8)) |
| Free look, REPLACEMENT | 30 days on a replaced life policy or annuity, with an unconditional refund (Regulation 70) |
| Free look, long-term care | 30 days (R.S. 22:1186(F)) |
| Free look, Medicare supplement | 30 days (Regulation 33) |
The guaranty limits are where Louisiana diverges from everything you have learned nationally, and it does so twice in the same subsection. First, the health limit is a flat $500,000 — no tier for basic hospital, none for disability income, none for long-term care. Most states run three health numbers; Louisiana runs one. Second, the aggregate is $500,000, not $300,000. The NAIC model sets the per-individual aggregate at $300,000, matching the life death benefit, and most states follow. Louisiana instead matches its aggregate to its health limit. So the shape to memorise is 300 / 100 / 250 on the life side, then 500 flat for health and 500 aggregate — and a candidate reasoning "the aggregate must equal the death benefit" will be $200,000 wrong.
The replacement free look is the second reliable point, and what triggers it is the transaction, not the product. A new Louisiana life policy or annuity carries 10 days. A replacement carries 30 days with an unconditional refund under Regulation 70 — three times the window, because replacement is where consumers are most exposed. Long-term care and Medicare supplement independently carry 30 days as well. So the ladder is 10 for new life and annuity, 30 for replacement, LTC and Medicare supplement — and exam items describe a transaction and let you work out which rung applies. Read for any sign that an in-force contract is being surrendered, lapsed or borrowed against to fund the new one.
Exam Day in Louisiana — One ID, and the Digital Licence Counts
Louisiana asks for ONE form of identification, not two — and getting this wrong in the other direction is harmless, so bring two anyway. The current bulletin is explicit: "Candidates are required to bring one (1) form of valid (non-expired) signature bearing identification." We flag it because PSI's own internal spec sheet from January 2021 says two, and that older figure still circulates. One is the current rule.
And Louisiana accepts something almost no other state does: the LA Wallet Digital ID. The bulletin's accepted list runs to a state driver's licence, the LA Wallet Digital ID, a state ID card, a U.S. passport, a military ID, an alien registration card, or Canadian government-issued identification. If your physical licence has gone missing the week of the exam, the digital credential on your phone is a genuine fallback — which is worth knowing precisely because bringing a phone into the testing room is otherwise prohibited, so plan to present it at check-in and then store the device.
The name has to match exactly. "The first and last name must match exactly with your current, valid, government-issued ID." A middle initial in the booking but not on the licence, a maiden name on one and a married name on the other — these are refused at the desk rather than fixed there. Correct your PSI registration before the day, not on it.
Arrive 30 minutes early. The bulletin: "you should arrive 30 minutes before your appointment." That window is for check-in and security, not a courtesy buffer.
The prohibited-items list is broad and specific. "Reference materials of any kind"; "electronic devices of any type, including but not limited to; cellular phones, cameras, computers"; "hats or headgear not worn for religious reasons"; "bulky or loose clothing"; and backpacks, briefcases, chewing gum, drinks and food. Two of those catch people out — bulky or loose clothing is a real rule in a state where a light jacket is normal indoors, and chewing gum is on the list explicitly.
Cancelling or rescheduling is a two-day window, measured on receipt. "You may cancel and reschedule an examination appointment without forfeiting your fee if your cancellation notice is received 2 days before the scheduled examination date." You can do it online or by phone — "you may reschedule online at https://test-takers.psiexams.com/ladi or call PSI at (855) 579-4644" — which is more flexible than states that insist on a phone call. Miss the window and the $58 is gone, and La. R.S. 22:1545 additionally makes a no-show reapply and remit all fees and forms exactly as a failing candidate must.
Payment and accommodations. PSI takes VISA, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. All centers are "equipped to provide access in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and exam accommodations will be made in meeting a candidate's needs" — arrange those when you book.
Louisiana's 180-Day Temporary License — and What It Is Not
La. R.S. 22:1553 authorises the Commissioner to issue "a temporary insurance producer license for a period not to exceed one hundred eighty days without requiring an examination." One hundred eighty days is generous, and no examination is a genuine waiver rather than a deferral.
Start with what it is not, because this is where national templates mislead people. A Louisiana temporary licence is not a permit to start selling while you study for Series 103. It is a business-continuity instrument — it exists so that a book of business does not go unserviced when the person holding it dies, becomes disabled or is called up. If your reason for wanting one is that your exam is three weeks away, that is not the statutory standard and the application will not succeed.
Who actually qualifies, from the statute: the surviving family members or the representative of a deceased producer; the representative of a producer who has become disabled; members or employees of a business entity where the designated licensed individual dies or becomes disabled; the designee of a producer entering military service; and any other case where the Commissioner deems it in the public interest. That last category is discretionary and genuinely open, but it is decided case by case rather than claimed as of right.
The conditions attached are real. The Commissioner may limit the scope of authority the temporary licensee holds; may require a licensed producer or the sponsoring insurer to assume responsibility for the temporary licensee's acts; and may revoke the licence if the interests of insureds or the public are endangered. Critically, the temporary licence terminates when the business is disposed of — so in the death-and-disability cases it is tied to the wind-up or sale, not to the calendar. One hundred eighty days is a ceiling, not an entitlement.
What we will not tell you is what it costs. R.S. 22:1553 states no fee and LDI's published fee schedules do not list one. Rather than invent a figure, contact LDI's Division of Producer Licensing on (225) 342-0860 or producerlicensing@ldi.la.gov.
And a practical note on how R.S. 22:1553 actually behaves in the situation it was written for. If you are the surviving spouse or the representative of a Louisiana producer who has died, the temporary licence is what lets the agency keep transacting while the book is wound up or sold. But read the statute's two limits together: 180 days is the ceiling, and the licence terminates when the business is disposed of — whichever comes first. So it is not six months of breathing room in every case; it is six months or the sale. And throughout, the Commissioner may require a licensed producer or the sponsoring insurer to assume responsibility for the temporary licensee's acts.
What It Costs
$58 to PSI for Series 103, $60.75 to IdentoGO for fingerprints, $75 to LDI through NIPR — about $193.75 for two lines of authority, with no course cost.
Set against the alternative, the saving is concrete. Series 101 and 102 separately cost $72 in exam fees, and adding the second line to your licence costs a $75 amendment on top of the first $75 — around $282.75 all in with fingerprints. The combined route lands at $193.75. That is roughly $89, plus a second trip to a test center and a second set of nerves.
What repeats: each retake of Series 103 is another $58 — the one respect in which the combined paper costs more than a single — with no waiting period. Renewal is $75 every two years for the whole licence, with a $50 late penalty. Adding a further line later is a $75 amendment, except Surplus Lines at $250.
Two training gates sit outside all of this, and holding both lines exposes you to both. The annuity best-interest course is 4 hours, one-time, required before selling annuity products for anyone newly licensed for Life authority on or after 20 September 2024 — and it is reciprocal, so training completed for any other state satisfies Louisiana. The long-term care ladder is 8 hours before selling and no less than 4 hours every renewal period thereafter. LTC courses approved for CE credit may also count toward your 24 hours; the annuity course does not.
Eligibility Requirements
Be at least 18, pass Series 103, file through NIPR with the signed background-check authorization, be fingerprinted when LDI instructs, and pay $75. There is no education requirement: LDI repealed Rule 9, Pre-licensing Education, effective 20 November 2022 under Act 273 of the 2022 Regular Session. The Life guide sets out the full basis for that negative — and the 2013 LDI document that keeps contradicting it.
Fingerprinting comes after the application, never before, and the Casualty guide walks the sequence in detail. If you already hold an active Louisiana resident licence and are simply adding these lines, you are exempt from prints entirely.
No professional designation waives anything in Louisiana. CLU, ChFC, CFP, FLMI, LUTCF and their relatives reduce neither the exam nor the CE requirement. R.S. 22:1551 is the only exam-exemption statute and its seven categories all turn on prior licensure, limited lines, credit or travel — the Property & Casualty guide covers them.
Two things are conditions on selling rather than on licensing, and they are easy to conflate with eligibility: the 4-hour annuity best-interest course before you place an annuity, and the 8-hour long-term care course before you market LTC. You can hold this credential in good standing and still be barred from either product line until the training is done.
Keeping Both Louisiana Lines Active
Important CE details: 24 hours per two-year cycle including 3 hours of ethics. Holding both Life and Accident & Health does not double it — 24 is the total. Neither line triggers Louisiana's 3-hour flood requirement, which attaches to Property, Casualty and Personal Lines only. Two product-training gates sit alongside the 24: a one-time 4-hour annuity best-interest course, which never counts toward CE, and long-term care training of 8 hours then 4 per period, which does count where the courses are CE-approved.
Two years, renewed on the last day of your birth month for $75 through NIPR, with the portal opening 90 days before expiration and a $50 penalty for filing late. Note that the March 31 even-or-odd-year rule keyed to licence number is the business entity rule, not the individual one — the two are frequently conflated, including in earlier versions of this page.
24 hours per cycle including 3 hours of ethics — and holding two lines does not double it. Twenty-four is the total for the licence. Neither of these lines triggers the flood requirement, which LDI attaches to "property, casualty or personal lines" only.
Carryover is capped at 10 excess general hours, and carried-over ethics credits count only as general education in the next period — so you cannot bank ethics ahead. A course also "may not be repeated for credit unless a minimum of 24 months have passed between course completions."
Both product-training gates apply to this credential. Annuities: Louisiana adopted the NAIC best-interest standard effective 20 September 2024, and producers newly licensed for Life authority on or after that date must complete the one-time 4-hour course before selling annuity products. The requirement is reciprocal — training completed to meet best-interest standards in any state satisfies Louisiana. Long-term care: 8 hours before selling, then no less than 4 hours every two years, and R.S. 22:1575 is blunt that a producer "may not sell, solicit or negotiate long-term care insurance" without it. Insurers are responsible for monitoring compliance, so a carrier will block an appointment over outstanding LTC training.
Coming with July 2027 renewals: a 2-hour legislative-updates component joins the 24. Plan the 2027 cycle as 3 ethics + 2 legislative + 19 general.
Miss the CE and the licence lapses — LDI Rule 10 provides that failure to complete CE before the renewal filing date "shall cause the license to lapse," and a lapsed licence cannot be reinstated until every hour that would have applied has been completed. Past two years from cancellation you re-take the exams. The Property & Casualty guide sets out the whole ladder.
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