New Mexico Life & Health Insurance Exam 2026

What This Route Actually Gets You

Here is the structural point that matters most and is most often stated wrongly: New Mexico has no combined "Life and Health" line of authority. The statute at NMSA 1978 §59A-12-17(A) grants Life and Accident and Health or Sickness as two separate qualifications.

What Series 18-27 is, precisely, is a single examination that qualifies you for both of them. Pass it and your licence lists two lines. It is an exam-efficiency route, not a third licence type.

The economics are straightforward. New Mexico charges $75 per exam attempt regardless of length, so sitting 18-27 once costs $75 for 150 questions, while sitting 18-25 and 18-26 separately costs $150 for 200 questions. The only argument for splitting them is study load — some candidates prefer to clear life first and return for health.

Annuities are written under the Life line. Variable life and variable annuity products are a separate line requiring FINRA and SEC registration on top, and PSI publishes no New Mexico variable-products examination because the state leans on the federal registration instead.

Life and Health Exam Options in New Mexico

All are administered by PSI Services, which replaced Prometric on 27 August 2024, and all are offered onsite and by live online proctoring. The pass mark is 70% of scored items, a raw percentage in New Mexico.

The combined paper is 50% longer than a single-line exam but gets 30 minutes more, so the per-question pace is very slightly tighter: one minute per question against 1.2 minutes on the single-line papers. It is not a large difference, but it is the wrong exam to discover it on.

Most Tested Topics on the New Mexico Life and Health Exam

The combined exam draws its New Mexico-specific weight from the guaranty association limits and the free-look periods — both areas where the state publishes precise numbers that differ from the national pattern. From the TESTivity New Mexico regulations curriculum, statute-verified:

The tiered health limits are the hardest thing in this set to hold in memory and the most likely to be tested precisely, because New Mexico uses three different numbers depending on what kind of health coverage failed. Major medical is protected to $500,000; disability income and long-term care to $300,000; everything else to $100,000. Candidates who compress this to a single health figure lose the point.

The aggregate cap is the classic follow-on question. It is $300,000 per individual across all coverages — except that it rises to $500,000 when a health benefit plan is in the mix. A fact pattern combining a life policy and a major-medical plan is testing exactly that exception.

On the free-look side, note that replacement carries a mandated 30-day period where an ordinary new individual-life sale carries no state-mandated free look at all. Replacement triggers the longer window; a straightforward new sale does not.

Exam Day in New Mexico

Arrive 30 minutes early. PSI's bulletin says so plainly, and the window is for check-in, identity verification and security screening rather than courtesy.

One form of identification, and it must be the right kind. The bulletin is specific: "To gain admission to the Test Center, you must present (1) form of identification." New Mexico asks for one document, not the two several states require — but it must be current, government-issued, and carry both a photograph and a signature. Accepted: a state driver's licence, a state identification card, a US or foreign government-issued passport, a US government-issued alien registration card, or a US military identification card. Temporary identification documents are refused.

The military ID carries a caveat. It is accepted at a test centre but not for remote testing. If you plan to test from home on a military ID, bring a different document — this is the one ID rule that changes with the modality.

Rescheduling is a two-day rule, and it must be live contact. Cancel or reschedule at least two days before the appointment and the $75 survives. Inside that window, or as a no-show, the fee is forfeited — the bulletin sets this out in capitals, noting examination fees are neither refundable nor transferable. Voicemail and email are not accepted as notice. Use your PSI online account or telephone 855-560-3714.

If you are testing remotely, the 30-minute launch window replaces the arrival window — launch within 30 minutes of your scheduled time or forfeit the fee. The Accident and Health guide covers the remote format in detail.

Your result is immediate. The score appears on screen when you finish and a report is emailed; on a failure the report carries a diagnostic breakdown by examination type. The Personal Lines guide covers the scoring and retake rules in full.

When New Mexico Waives the Examination

New Mexico publishes a genuine waiver list, and it is broader than most candidates assume. The authority sits in two places that must be read together: the statute at NMSA 1978 §59A-12-16(E) and the rule at 13.4.2.11(B) NMAC, replaced in full effective 1 April 2025.

Professional designations. Two are recognised, and the life-side one has an unusually long reach:

That C.L.U. reaches accident and health is worth pausing on, since the designation is usually associated with life alone; New Mexico's rule names both. A C.L.U. holder seeking the two lines this guide covers may not need to sit Series 18-27 at all.

Other designations are not on the list. C.I.C., Ch.F.C., F.L.M.I., A.R.M. and A.A.I. do not appear in either the statutory subsection or the rule's exemption list. If you hold one of these, ask OSI directly rather than assuming — the absence is from those two documents, and OSI administers cases the text does not obviously cover.

Statutory exemptions that have nothing to do with designations. Under §59A-12-16(E)–(G) and 13.4.2.11(B) NMAC the examination is also not required of:

- an applicant whose out-of-state licence was cancelled, where the application reaches New Mexico within 90 days of that cancellation (§59A-12-16(F));

- an applicant moving to New Mexico from another state, who must apply within 90 days of establishing legal residence (§59A-12-16(G));

- an applicant who previously held a New Mexico licence within the past five years and seeks the same lines — the operative rule is 13.4.2.11(B)(2) NMAC, which is more generous than the one-year period in the statute;

- an applicant renewing or continuing an existing licence;

- applicants for limited-line licences, and for licences to transact credit, travel or portable electronics insurance;

- applicants for a temporary licence.

The 90-day clock is the one that costs people money. New residents who let three months pass lose the exemption and sit the exam like anyone else. If you are moving to New Mexico with an active licence elsewhere, file first and settle in afterwards.

Temporary licences. Under §59A-11-4, the Superintendent may issue a temporary producer licence for up to 180 days without an examination, and the application is made as for a permanent licence but without payment of the examination fee. It exists to keep a book serviced — the death or disability of a producer, training new personnel, and similar circumstances — rather than as a general on-ramp. The statute is silent on renewal or extension.

Reciprocity is a separate question from waiver. Nonresident licensing, and the recognition of another state's continuing education, are governed by §59A-11-23 and are covered in the Property and Casualty guide.

What the Combined Route Costs

$75 for the combined examination — the same as either single-line paper, which is the whole argument for taking it. Then $30 for the resident producer licence (§59A-6-1), $20 per insurer appointment, and $60 for biennial continuation.

Sitting Life and Accident and Health separately costs $150 in exam fees for the same two lines of authority. The licence fee does not change: $30 covers the licence, not each line on it.

A candidate qualifying by designation waiver or by the 90-day new-resident exemption pays no examination fee at all, and a temporary licence applicant is expressly exempted from it by statute.

NIPR's transaction fee and the IdentoGO fingerprint charge are additional and are not published by the state.

Eligibility

At least 18 (§59A-12-12), a pass on Series 18-27 unless one of the waivers above applies, and a state and federal fingerprint background check. No pre-licensing course is required for any New Mexico producer line — confirmed in the PSI bulletin, in §59A-12-16, and by the absence of any prelicensing provision in 13.4.2 NMAC.

Applicants must not have committed an act that is a ground for denial, suspension or revocation under the Insurance Code, and must declare the application true under penalty of refusal, suspension or revocation.

Apply through NIPR within one year of passing. The Casualty guide walks the background check; the Life guide walks the application itself.

Continuing Education for Life and Health Producers

24 credit hours per two-year compliance period, of which 3 must be ethics. Holding both Life and Accident and Health does not double it — the requirement attaches to the licence, not to each line on it.

Producers on this route typically carry the most specialty training in the state, because both long-term care (an initial 8 hours before transacting it) and annuity product training fall on the life and health side. Under 13.4.7 NMAC those hours count toward the 24 rather than being additional.

No hours carry over into the next period, and courses must come from providers approved by the Superintendent. Licensees continuously licensed for 25 years or more without a lapse of more than 90 days are exempt from continuing education — a New Mexico provision worth knowing if you are returning to the industry late in a career.

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