The North Carolina Life & Health License
A North Carolina Life & Health producer sells life insurance, annuities, accident and health (A&H) coverage, disability income, and related products. In NC these are two distinct lines of authority - Life and Accident & Health or Sickness - and the state tests each one on its own exam.
That separate-exam structure is the single most important thing to understand before you start: there is no combined 'L&H' exam in North Carolina. To carry full Life & Health authority you pass the Life Agent exam (code 01) and the Accident & Health or Sickness Agent exam (code 02), each a stand-alone Pearson VUE sitting.
Pre-Licensing Education - 40 Hours for Full L&H
North Carolina requires 20 hours of approved pre-licensing education per line of authority. Because Life and Accident & Health are separate lines, full Life & Health authority means 40 hours total - 20 for Life and 20 for A&H.
Courses are delivered classroom, correspondence-workbook, or internet self-study by NCDOI-approved providers. The course content outline in the candidate handbook is the exam blueprint - every question is written from it.
Your exam authorization is valid for a limited window (commonly cited as 90 days or up to five attempts), so line up pre-licensing and your exam date close together.
TESTivity recommends [Achievable](https://app.achievable.me/study/insurance-life-health/purchase#a_aid=getthelicense) to satisfy your North Carolina pre-licensing requirement. Achievable is an approved provider, its insurance courses were built by the same subject-matter expert behind TESTivity, and completing the Achievable course earns you the certificate of completion North Carolina requires.
One important distinction: TESTivity is not an approved pre-licensing provider in North Carolina and does not issue certificates of completion. The TESTivity learning tools and study packages will absolutely help you pass the exam — but treat them as a supplement to your Achievable course, not a substitute for it.
Disclosure: TESTivity has a partnership with Achievable and may earn a commission if you enroll through links on this page.
Two Separate Pearson VUE Exams
Each exam is two-part - a General portion plus a North Carolina State Supplement - delivered together at a Pearson VUE test center and scored as one combined result. You need an overall 70% (reported on a 0-100 scale); you do not have to pass each part individually.
Both the Life exam and the A&H exam are 55 scoreable four-option questions plus 5 unscored pretest questions, with 1 hour 15 minutes each. The fee is $45 per attempt, per exam.
The Life exam leans on policy types, riders, provisions, annuities, taxation, and NC statutes pertinent to life. The A&H exam leans on disability income, medical-expense and major-medical plans, managed care, mandatory/optional provisions, and NC statutes pertinent to accident & health.
Apply Through NIPR, Then Fingerprint
Complete your resident application and pay fees on NIPR (www.nipr.com) before you can schedule an exam. NIPR reserves your National Producer Number (NPN) and Pearson VUE emails your authorization to test with a 6-month eligibility window.
After applying, submit Live Scan electronic fingerprints within 30 days at a local law enforcement agency that offers the service - North Carolina does not use a private vendor like IdentoGO. Bring the SBI Electronic Fingerprint Submission Release form (printed from the NIPR email) and a photo ID; upload the certified pages to the NIPR Attachment Warehouse.
Once your exam result and SBI/FBI background check clear, NCDOI issues the license and you print it yourself through SBS Connect, usually 48-72 hours after the issuance email.
What the Life & Health License Costs
Plan on two exam fees (Life + A&H) at $45 each, a $50 registration fee per line of authority (so $100 for both Life and A&H), and a one-time $38 SBI/FBI criminal-check fee. NIPR adds a small transaction fee, and your local Live Scan site may charge a small fingerprinting fee at its discretion.
That puts state and exam costs at roughly $228 before your pre-licensing course (priced by the provider). There is no producer renewal fee in North Carolina.
North Carolina-Specific L&H Topics You'll Be Tested On
The NC State Supplement on both the Life and A&H exams pulls directly from Chapter 58 of the General Statutes. High-yield areas include the powers of the Commissioner of Insurance, the Unfair Trade Practices Act (twisting, churning, rebating, defamation, unfair discrimination), and the Insurance Information & Privacy Protection Act.
On the Life side, expect questions on the North Carolina Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association (Article 62), life insurance solicitation and replacement rules, the free-look period, fraternal benefit societies, and viatical settlements (G.S. 58-58-205).
On the A&H side, expect the nature-of-policies provisions (Article 51), group health continuation and conversion privileges (Article 53), mandatory vs. optional individual health provisions, and Medicare Supplement / Long-Term Care - which in NC is a separate license that requires the A&H license first.
Guaranty-association coverage in NC follows the NAIC model (roughly $300,000 life death benefit, $100,000 cash value, $250,000 annuity present value, and higher health figures), but the state-specific questions are fair game on both exams. The exam content outlines in the candidate handbook are your best guide to what NC-specific topics will be tested.
Keeping the License: Continuing Education
Resident producers complete 24 CE hours every two years, including 3 hours of ethics. Your compliance date falls on the last day of your birth month, in an odd or even year matching your birth year. North Carolina has no separate renewal application or renewal fee - meeting CE is what keeps the license active.
Excess CE hours carry over to the next cycle. Prometric administers CE for NCDOI. Miss the deadline and you have a 4-month grace window plus a reinstatement fee before the license goes inactive.
After You Pass
A license alone does not let you sell - you must be appointed by at least one insurer, and you can only sell the products of carriers that appoint you. Keep your mailing, residential, and email addresses current with NCDOI within 10 days of any change.
Most L&H producers add Medicare Supplement / Long-Term Care authority next (it builds on your A&H license), or cross over to Property & Casualty to serve households with both needs.
Quick Reference
Official Links
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