What This License Is
A combined Life, Accident & Health authority carries both Pennsylvania lines on one producer licence: life insurance and fixed annuities on one side; accident, health, disability, Medicare supplement and long-term care on the other.
Pennsylvania offers a genuine combined exam, and it is a real bargain. Series 16-03 is a single 150-question sitting at $55. Taking Life (16-01) and Accident & Health (16-02) separately means two exams at $45 each - $90 - and two trips. One sitting, $35 less, two lines instead of one.
That is worth flagging because plenty of states do not work this way. New Jersey, for instance, has no combined exam at all: two lines always means two sittings and two fees. Pennsylvania rewards the broader licence rather than taxing it.
And since 29 April 2025 there is no coursework consideration either. Act 142 of 2024 repealed the 24-credit preexamination requirement outright. In a state that still mandated pre-licensing per line, the combined licence would have cost you extra classroom hours; here it costs you fifty extra questions and fifty minutes.
Variable products remain outside this licence - variable life and variable annuities are securities requiring FINRA registration alongside the Life line.
Exam Options & Format
Series 16-03: 150 scored questions in 2 hours 50 minutes at $55, plus five to ten unscored experimental items PSI folds into the same clock. Passing is a flat 70% - "In order to pass the examination, you must achieve a minimum score of 70%" - a raw percentage with no scaling.
| Route | Exams | Questions | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combined (16-03) | 1 | 150 | 2 hr 50 min | $55 |
| Life (16-01) + A&H (16-02) separately | 2 | 100 + 100 | 2 hr + 2 hr | $90 |
Note the pacing difference the table hides: the combined exam gives you about 68 seconds a question against 72 on a single-line exam. Marginally tighter, and long enough that stamina rather than difficulty is the usual failure mode. It is not a harder exam question-for-question; it is a longer one covering two content outlines.
No attempt cap, no waiting period beyond the same-day rebooking restriction, and a passing result valid one year. Each retake is another $55.
You can sit it at any of PSI's eleven Pennsylvania test centres - listed in the Property guide - or by Remote Proctored modality, covered in the Accident & Health guide. For a 170-minute exam the remote no-breaks rule is worth weighing before you book.
Most Tested Topics on the Pennsylvania Life & Health Exam
Pennsylvania tracks the NAIC model closely on the life and health side, which concentrates the state-law points into a few specific places. Two of them - the replacement free look and the guaranty tiers - account for most of the marks available:
| Concept | The Pennsylvania rule |
|---|---|
| Free look, new life policy or annuity | 10 days to return either for a full premium refund (40 P.S. 510c(a)(1); 510d(a)(1)) |
| Free look on a replacement | Two figures, and the discriminator is whose policy is being replaced: 45 days where the replacing policy comes from the same insurer or insurer group, and 20 days where it comes from a different insurer |
| Free look, long-term care | 30 days from delivery - this is the NAIC model figure and is almost certainly right, but we could not locate the right-to-return provision in 31 Pa. Code Ch. 89a or in 40 P.S. 991.1105, so treat the citation as unconfirmed |
| Guaranty association | The Pennsylvania Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association (PLHIGA), 40 P.S. 991.1701 et seq. |
| Guaranty, life death benefit | $300,000 |
| Guaranty, life cash surrender value | $100,000 net cash surrender or withdrawal value |
| Guaranty, annuity | $250,000 present value of annuity benefits, including cash surrender and net cash withdrawal values |
| Guaranty, health - the tiered part | $500,000 for a health benefit plan (basic hospital, medical or major medical); $300,000 for disability income and for long-term care; $100,000 for all other health insurance |
| Guaranty, aggregate per individual | $300,000 - rising to $500,000 where a health benefit plan is involved |
| Sales inducement | Using the existence of the guaranty association to induce a purchase is prohibited |
| Mini-COBRA | Act 2 of 2009 - employers of 2 to 19, up to 9 months, elect within 30 days, 105% of the group rate, and the employee must have had 3 continuous months of prior coverage |
| CE headline | 24 credits every two years including at least 3 ethics - per licensee, not per line - with up to a full 24 credits carried forward |
The replacement free look is where this exam is won or lost, and nearly every summary flattens it into one number. Pennsylvania has two, and the test is not the product, the premium or the age of the insured - it is whether the new policy comes from the same insurer as the old one. Same insurer or insurer group: 45 days. Different insurer: 20 days.
The direction surprises people. You would expect an external replacement - new carrier, new underwriting, a genuinely different product - to warrant the longer look, and an internal one to need less scrutiny. Pennsylvania does the reverse and gives the same-insurer replacement more than double the window. If a stem tells you the agent moved a client between two companies, the answer is 20; if the client stayed put and merely upgraded, it is 45.
The guaranty limits are the second cluster, and the trap there is treating them as one number. Pennsylvania follows the NAIC model, which means the health side is tiered rather than flat: $500,000 for a health benefit plan, $300,000 for disability income or long-term care, $100,000 for everything else health. A question that names the type of health coverage is asking which tier applies, and "health is $500,000" is right only for the top one.
Note too that the aggregate cap moves: $300,000 per individual ordinarily, but $500,000 where a health benefit plan is in the mix - so the aggregate can exceed the life death benefit limit.
Exam Day: What Actually Happens
Arrive 30 minutes early. Pennsylvania asks for more lead time than most states, which typically say fifteen, and the penalty is absolute: you forfeit the fee if you "arrive after examination start time."
Bring ONE form of identification - not two. PSI's requirement is "one (1) form of valid (non-expired) signature bearing identification," which must carry your photo and your signature and be current. A state driver's licence, state ID card, learner's permit, US passport, military ID, alien registration card, Canadian government ID or employment authorization card all qualify. Pennsylvania imposes no primary-plus-secondary two-document scheme, so if you have read that somewhere, it was describing another state.
The name has to match. "Candidates must register for the exam with their LEGAL first and last name as it appears on their government issued identification." Booking in a married name against a licence in a maiden name is a turned-away candidate and a forfeited fee.
Screening is more thorough than most candidates expect. At check-in you are questioned about prohibited items, and the screening "may include emptying pockets, lifting sleeves and pant legs, and inspecting eyeglasses or apparel" that could conceal a recording device.
What you cannot bring in: reference materials of any kind; electronic devices of every description - phones, cameras, tablets, earbuds, electronic and smart watches, handheld calculators, headsets, music players, pagers, radios, recorders; hats or headgear other than religious; bulky or loose clothing including open sweaters, cardigans, shawls, scarves, vests, jackets and coats; and personal items including backpacks, briefcases, chewing gum, drinks, food, good-luck items, notebooks, paper or anything to write on, pens and pencils, purses, reading material, smoking or chewing products, and wallets. Dress in layers you can keep on rather than layers you plan to shed.
Breaks are restroom-only and cost you time. "Candidates will not receive extra time to complete the examination." On a 170-minute exam that is a real trade. If you test remotely there are no breaks at all.
Reschedule at least two days out or lose the fee: "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."
Afterwards, your score appears on screen immediately and a report follows by email - with a diagnostic breakdown if you failed. Then file the licence application, at the test-centre kiosk if you are there, because your fingerprints cannot be taken until it exists.
Skipping the Exam: Pennsylvania's Designation Waivers
Most states publish designation waivers that let you skip the coursework. Pennsylvania's waivers skip the examination - and since Act 142 repealed pre-licensing in April 2025, the examination is the only requirement left. So in Pennsylvania a qualifying designation does not shorten the path. It removes it.
40 P.S. 310.4(d) provides that the examination requirements "shall not be required" if the person is:
| Designation or status | Exams it waives |
|---|---|
| CLU | Life, and accident and health |
| CPCU | Property, casualty, and accident and health |
| CIC | Life, accident and health, and property and casualty |
| Any other designation the commissioner waives | As determined |
| A person licensed in another state for those lines | Those lines |
| A business entity; limited line credit insurance; a limited line; domestic mutual fire restricted authority; restricted fraternal | As specified |
Read that table carefully, because the coverage is not symmetric. The CIC is the broadest - it reaches life, accident and health, and property and casualty, which is every core producer line. The CPCU covers the property-casualty side plus accident and health, but not life. The CLU covers life and accident and health, but not property or casualty.
And the omission that catches people: ChFC is not on the list. The Chartered Financial Consultant travels alongside the CLU in most people's mental model - same issuing body, overlapping curriculum, frequently held together - but Pennsylvania's statute names CLU and does not name ChFC. A ChFC holder without a CLU sits the exam like anyone else.
The other route is prior licensure. Someone already licensed for the relevant lines in another state is exempt from the Pennsylvania exam. That is the ordinary reciprocity path, and if you are relocating there is a 90-day clock attached to it that the Property & Casualty guide sets out in full - miss it and the waiver goes away.
One place no waiver reaches: surplus lines. The Department requires resident surplus lines applicants to pass the surplus lines examination with "no exemptions or exceptions" - so a CPCU can waive the underlying property and casualty exams and still has to sit Series 16-09. The Property guide covers that path.
A note on what we cannot tell you: the repealed subsection 310.4(b), which used to carry the pre-licensing requirement, is rendered as struck text in the enrolled act and its former contents - including any designations that once waived coursework specifically - could not be retrieved. It no longer matters operationally, since there is no coursework to waive, but if you encounter an older list of "pre-licensing waiver designations" that is what it was describing.
What It Costs
About $110 in published fees on a first-time pass: $55 for the combined exam and $55 to the Department with a resident application. Plus the IdentoGO fingerprint fee, which no primary source publishes - PID and PSI both describe the payment without naming an amount.
The combined exam is the saving. Two single-line exams cost $90 against $55, and the licence fee is $55 either way, so the combined route lands about $35 cheaper for strictly more authority.
There is no course to buy, which is the whole reason Pennsylvania is now inexpensive to enter. Retakes are $55 apiece with no attempt cap, and exam fees are "NOT REFUNDABLE OR TRANSFERABLE."
Eligibility Requirements
40 P.S. 310.6(a) requires that the applicant has reached 18, has committed no prohibited act, has passed or is exempt from the examination, has paid all applicable fees, and possesses "the general fitness, competence and reliability sufficient to satisfy the department that the applicant is worthy of licensure." A CLU or CIC covers the exam element. What that section notably does not contain is a Pennsylvania-residence requirement or a read-and-write-English requirement - both are widely repeated and neither appears in the statute.
Paragraph (3) of that section - the old pre-licensing education condition - was deleted by Act 142 of 2024, so any source predating 29 April 2025 is describing a rule that no longer exists.
Initial resident applicants are fingerprinted through IdentoGO under service code 1KGBGJ, only after passing and applying; the Casualty guide covers the sequence.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: Twenty-four credits every two years, tracked through Sircon.
Your licence runs two years and expires on the last day of your birth month. Each cycle takes 24 credit hours including at least three in ethics.
Holding both lines does not double it. Pennsylvania's 24 credits belong to the licensee rather than to each authority - a producer carrying Life, Accident & Health, Property and Casualty owes 24, exactly as a single-line producer does. What your lines change is which topics are mandated inside the 24: a licensee with a property and casualty line of authority owes 2 flood credits; on this licence you do not.
The ethics requirement is new and its arrival tells you something. Act 142 of 2024 added it in the same breath as repealing pre-licensing, effective 29 April 2025. Pennsylvania moved its mandatory education from the front of a career to the length of it. Existing licensees had 12 months from that date or until the end of their current period, whichever was longer; anyone licensed since satisfies it by the end of their first period.
Carryover is a full cycle's worth - the statute permits carrying forward "excess continuing education credit hours up to a maximum of 24 credit hours from one licensing period to the next," which is generous by national standards.
Product-specific training sits alongside CE: the 4-credit Act 99 annuity best-interest course before you sell an annuity, and 8 hours plus 4 every 24-month cycle for long-term care under 31 Pa. Code 39a.9. The Property & Casualty guide covers renewal and the late-renewal tiers.
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