Indiana Life & Health Insurance Exam — Study Guide

Life & Health Insurance Producer — Indiana-Specific Rules

The earlier chapters taught life and health insurance the way it works everywhere. This chapter teaches the part that is only true in Indiana — and it is the part that decides whether you pass.

On the Indiana licensing exam the state material is scored as a separate supplement. Under the examination content outline effective November 26, 2025, the Life & Health Indiana state-specific supplement carries 35 scored questions plus 5 unscored pretest questions, weighted roughly: Indiana laws and department rules common to all lines (about 20), life regulations (about 8), health regulations (about 7). Verify the current question counts and weighting with the Indiana Department of Insurance and the current Pearson VUE Indiana content outline — the outline is reissued periodically.

Everything below is grounded in the Indiana Code (IC Title 27) and the Indiana Administrative Code (760 IAC), with citations so you can verify each rule. Where a rule involves a number the legislature, the Department, or the guaranty association can change — hours, fees, days, dollar limits — the number is flagged. Learn the rule cold; confirm the number before you rely on it.

1. The Indiana Department of Insurance and the Commissioner

Indiana regulates insurance through the Indiana Department of Insurance (IDOI): licensing authority for producers, form and rate reviewer for insurers, consumer-complaint forum, and enforcement arm.

Indiana's chief regulator is the Commissioner of Insurance. Under IC 27-1-1-2 the Commissioner is appointed by the Governor and serves — and may be removed — at the Governor's pleasure; there is no fixed statutory term. The Commissioner must be knowledgeable about insurance and is to be selected solely for fitness, irrespective of political belief or affiliation, takes an oath of office, and posts a surety bond (verify the current bond amount with the IDOI). The Commissioner is the Department's chief executive and administrative officer and may attend and participate in meetings of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). That last point is tested: the NAIC writes model laws but has no direct authority over you. A model becomes binding in Indiana only when the legislature enacts it or the Department promulgates it in 760 IAC.

Powers and duties (IC 27-1-3-7, IC 27-1-3-10, and throughout Title 27): issue, renew, deny, suspend, and revoke licenses; examine the affairs, accounts, records, and assets of insurers (fiscal examinations under IC 27-1-3.1-8, with authority to accept another state's report for a foreign or alien insurer rather than examining directly); conduct hearings and issue orders, including cease and desist orders; promulgate rules; issue certificates of authority (IC 27-1-3-20, IC 27-1-17-7); and investigate consumer complaints and suspected fraud.

Know both classification systems. Domestic / foreign / alien describes where an insurer was organized — under Indiana law, another U.S. state's law, or another country's law (IC 27-1-2-3). Admitted / non-admitted describes whether it holds an Indiana certificate of authority; business goes to a non-admitted insurer only through surplus lines.

Enforcement against producers. Under IC 27-1-15.6-12 the Commissioner may reprimand, levy a civil penalty, place a producer on probation, suspend, revoke for a term of years, permanently revoke, or refuse to issue or renew a license. Verify the current civil penalty minimum and maximum with the IDOI. Separate penalty schedules apply to unfair competition violations (IC 27-4-1-5 through -9), violation of a cease and desist order (IC 27-4-1-12), and criminal violations (IC 27-4-1-16; IC 27-1-2-4). Discipline is administrative: written notice and an opportunity for a hearing (verify the days to request one), subject to judicial review.

2. Producer Licensing

The governing chapter is IC 27-1-15.6 (Insurance Producers), with IC 27-1-15.7 (renewal) and 760 IAC 1-50 (continuing education).

Who needs a license. No person may sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance in Indiana for a line of authority without a producer license for that line. Those three verbs are defined terms — memorize them. Discussing insurance generally is not soliciting; steering a specific person toward a specific product is. Lines of authority (IC 27-1-15.6-2) include life; accident and health (or sickness); property; casualty; personal lines; variable life and variable annuity products; credit; title; and limited lines. A Life & Health producer holds life plus accident and health; variable products additionally require the variable line and the applicable FINRA registration.

Resident license requirements

You must be at least 18; maintain your principal residence or principal place of business in Indiana; be a U.S. citizen or a legal alien authorized to work; not have committed an act that is a ground for denial, suspension, or revocation under IC 27-1-15.6-12; complete pre-licensing education for each line; pass the Indiana examination for each line; and file the application with the fee.

Pre-licensing education is required in Indiana. The Department publishes hours by line — separate requirements for Life alone and Accident & Health alone, and a larger combined requirement for Life & Health. Verify current hours with the IDOI (its guidelines have listed 20 hours for Life, 20 for Health, 40 combined — confirm rather than memorize). State-approved self-study may satisfy the classroom requirement, and the completion certificate is valid only for a limited window (reported as six months) in which you must pass the exam and apply — verify. The Department will consider a waiver for holders of designations such as CLU, CFP, CPCU, CIC, or AAI, or a bachelor's degree in insurance. A waiver excuses the education, not the examination: under IC 27-1-15.6-9 such an applicant may be limited to the Indiana laws and rules portion, but no one is licensed without testing.

Examination is administered by the Department's contracted testing vendor at centers statewide and, for many exams, by remote online proctoring. Verify the current vendor, exam fee, passing score, and scheduling procedure — testing contracts are periodically re-bid.

Application and fees. Applications are filed electronically through the state's producer licensing systems (Sircon for Indiana and NIPR). The resident application fee is nonrefundable and nontransferable — published as $40, but verify the current fee. Indiana does not currently require fingerprinting for resident producer licensing; verify current background-check requirements.

A producer licensed as a resident of another state who moves here must apply for an Indiana resident license within 90 days after establishing legal residence (IC 27-1-15.6-9), without repeating pre-licensing education or exams for lines already held in good standing. Verify this day count.

Nonresident licenses. Indiana licenses nonresidents on a reciprocal basis: a producer in good standing in a home state may obtain an Indiana nonresident license for the same lines without Indiana's exam or pre-licensing education, provided the home state reciprocates. The Indiana license derives from the home state license — if that lapses or is revoked, the nonresident license is at risk.

Temporary licenses. Indiana does issue them. Under IC 27-1-15.6-11 the Commissioner may issue a temporary license without examination for up to a statutory maximum (currently 180 days — verify) to the surviving spouse or personal representative of a producer who died or became disabled; a member or employee of a licensed business entity on the death or disability of its designated licensed individual; a designee of a producer entering active military service; or any other person where the Commissioner finds the public interest is served. The Commissioner may limit the temporary licensee's authority, require a sponsoring licensed producer or insurer responsible for the licensee's acts, and revoke if insureds or the public are endangered.

Appointment by insurers

A license lets you sell; an appointment lets you represent a particular insurer. Under IC 27-1-15.6-14 a producer may not act as an agent of an insurer unless appointed by that insurer; the insurer files the appointment and pays the fee. A producer not acting as an agent representing an insurer does not need an appointment for that activity. Verify current appointment filing deadlines and fees.

Termination (IC 27-1-15.6-15) is heavily tested. When an insurer terminates a producer's appointment, employment, or contract for a reason listed in IC 27-1-15.6-12, the insurer must notify the Commissioner not more than 30 days after the effective date of termination, and mail a copy to the producer not more than 15 days after notifying the Commissioner — by certified mail or overnight delivery when for cause. The producer may file written comments within 30 days of receipt; they join the Commissioner's file and accompany future reports. Insurers, producers, and the Commissioner have immunity from civil liability absent actual malice, and the information furnished is confidential and privileged — not subject to public inspection, subpoena, or discovery in private civil actions. Verify these day counts.

Renewal and continuing education

Licenses renew biennially, on the last day of the licensee's birth month (IC 27-1-15.7-2; 760 IAC 1-50).

The resident producer CE requirement is 24 credit hours per two-year cycle, of which 3 must be an ethics course for a producer holding the Life and/or Accident & Health line (a title-only producer has a smaller title-specific requirement). Verify current total hours, ethics hours, and carry-over rules with the IDOI.

Line-specific training layers on top:

• Annuities — a state-approved annuity best-interest training course must be completed before selling, soliciting, or negotiating annuities; substantially similar training done for another state is accepted. Verify the current course length (reported as a one-time 4 hours).
• Long-term care — an initial LTC training course, then shorter ongoing training every two years. Verify current initial and ongoing hours (reported as 8 and 5).
• Long-Term Care Partnership — additional Partnership-specific training for producers selling Indiana Partnership policies (IC 12-15-39.6).

CE credit and license status are tracked electronically through the state's licensing vendor system, and you are responsible for confirming your transcript before renewal — failing CE is itself a ground for discipline.

License maintenance duties

Under IC 27-1-15.6-7 and IC 27-1-15.6-17 a producer must notify the Commissioner of a change of legal or assumed name; a change of residential, business, or email address; any administrative action taken in another jurisdiction or by another Indiana agency, within 30 days after final disposition, with the order or consent agreement; and any criminal prosecution in any jurisdiction, within 30 days after the initial pretrial hearing, with the complaint and disposition. Verify these windows.

Grounds for denial, suspension, and revocation (IC 27-1-15.6-12)

Materially untrue or misleading information in an application; violating any insurance law, rule, subpoena, or order of this or another state's commissioner; obtaining a license by misrepresentation or fraud; improperly withholding, misappropriating, or converting money or property received in the insurance business; intentionally misrepresenting a contract or application; felony conviction; committing an insurance unfair trade practice or fraud; fraudulent, coercive, or dishonest practices, or incompetence, untrustworthiness, or financial irresponsibility here or elsewhere; license denial, suspension, or revocation in another jurisdiction; forgery; cheating on a licensing exam; knowingly accepting business from an unlicensed person; noncompliance with a child support order; failure to pay state income tax; and failure to satisfy continuing education requirements.

Controlled business. The Commissioner may deny or refuse to renew where a license is used primarily to write insurance on the producer's own life, property, or interests or those of family, employer, or business associates. Indiana measures this as a share of commissions over a rolling period — verify the current percentage and measurement period (reported as commissions exceeding 25% of total commissions in any 12-month period).

Consultants. An insurance consultant license (IC 27-1-15.6-22) is a separate credential for a person who, for a fee, advises about insurance. The two roles are licensed separately, and charging a separate fee on a transaction where you also earn commission is constrained by that statute.

3. Marketing and Sales Conduct: Indiana's Unfair Trade Practices Law

Indiana has an unfair trade practices act — IC 27-4-1, "Unfair Competition; Unfair or Deceptive Acts and Practices." IC 27-4-1-3 prohibits engaging in any practice the chapter defines as an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act in the business of insurance; IC 27-4-1-4 enumerates them:

• Misrepresentation and false advertising of policy contracts — any estimate, illustration, circular, or statement misrepresenting a policy's terms, benefits, advantages, dividends, or share of surplus; misrepresenting an insurer's financial condition; misnaming or misclassifying a policy.
• False information and advertising generally — untrue, deceptive, or misleading advertisements about the insurance business.
• Defamation — any oral or written statement, pamphlet, circular, or article that is false, or maliciously critical of or derogatory to the financial condition of an insurer, calculated to injure a person engaged in the business of insurance.
• Boycott, coercion, and intimidation — acts resulting or tending to result in unreasonable restraint of, or monopoly in, the business of insurance.
• False financial statements.
• Unfair discrimination — between individuals of the same class and equal expectation of life in life or annuity rates, dividends, or benefits; or of the same class and essentially the same hazard in accident and health premiums, benefits, or terms.
• Rebating — knowingly making any insurance or annuity agreement other than as plainly expressed in the policy, or paying, allowing, giving, or offering — directly or indirectly — as an inducement, any rebate of premium, special favor in dividends or benefits, or valuable consideration not specified in the contract. Rebating is two-sided: usually the producer offering and the consumer accepting are both in violation.
• Twisting — misrepresentation to a policyholder to induce, or tend to induce, the policyholder to lapse, forfeit, or surrender existing insurance.
• Churning — generating new commissions by replacing a client's policy with another, often with the same insurer and funded by the existing policy's values, without legitimate benefit. Indiana reaches it through the misrepresentation, suitability, and replacement provisions.
• Sharing commissions with an unlicensed person — prohibited by IC 27-4-1-4 and, for producers, by IC 27-1-15.6-13: no insurer or producer may compensate a person for selling, soliciting, or negotiating insurance in Indiana who is required to be licensed and is not, and that person may not accept it. Exception: renewal or other deferred commissions may be paid to a person who was properly licensed at the time of the original transaction. Insurers may also pay an agency or a party who does not sell, solicit, or negotiate in Indiana, subject to IC 27-1-20-30.

Unfair claim settlement practices. Indiana has one — IC 27-4-1-4.5, with a complaint and investigation procedure at IC 27-4-1-5.6. It prohibits misrepresenting facts or policy provisions relating to a claim; failing to acknowledge and act reasonably promptly on claim communications; failing to adopt reasonable standards for prompt investigation; refusing to pay without a reasonable investigation; failing to affirm or deny coverage within a reasonable time after proof of loss; failing to attempt in good faith a prompt, fair, equitable settlement where liability is reasonably clear; and compelling insureds to litigate by offering substantially less than amounts ultimately recovered. Enforcement runs through the Commissioner.

Advertising and solicitation rules. Life advertising: 760 IAC 1-13. Accident and sickness advertising: 760 IAC 1-18. Life insurance solicitation: 760 IAC 1-24 — under 760 IAC 1-24-5 the insurer must give the applicant a Buyer's Guide and Policy Summary before accepting the initial premium or premium deposit, unless the policy contains an unconditional refund provision of at least ten days or the Policy Summary itself contains such an offer, in which case they may be delivered with or before the policy. Note the linkage: the free look is what buys the insurer the later delivery. Verify the current refund-period trigger. LTC marketing standards: 760 IAC 2-15. Medicare supplement marketing: IC 27-8-13-9 and 760 IAC 3-17.