Minnesota Life & Health Insurance Exam — Study Guide

This chapter covers the Minnesota-specific portion of the Life and Health producer examination: who regulates the business, how you get and keep a license, what you may and may not say when you sell, what Minnesota requires inside the policy, and what happens if an insurer fails.

Producer rules live mainly in Minnesota Statutes Chapter 60K; trade-practice and claims rules in Chapter 72A; life contract provisions and replacement in Chapter 61A; health across Chapters 62A, 62E, 62Q, and 62S; the guaranty association in Chapter 61B; the regulator's general powers in Chapter 45; and marketing standards in Minnesota Rules Chapter 2790.

A word on numbers. The statutes are stable; the numbers inside them are not. Hours, fees, filing windows, free-look days, and guaranty caps get amended. Most figures in this chapter now carry an inline citation with the date they were read against the Revisor of Statutes (revisor.mn.gov), the Minnesota Department of Commerce (mn.gov/commerce), or the PSI candidate bulletin — those you can study from. A minority are still marked [VERIFY]: they are figures no primary source confirmed, and they are left flagged on purpose rather than quietly deleted. Treat a flagged figure as unconfirmed and check it with Commerce before you rely on it. The rules are stated affirmatively, because Minnesota genuinely has them.

1. The Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Commissioner

Minnesota has no standalone Department of Insurance. Insurance is regulated by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, a consolidated agency that also oversees securities, real estate, and energy, headed by the Commissioner of Commerce, appointed by the Governor. Its Insurance Division handles solvency, rate and form filings, market conduct, and consumer complaints; the Licensing Division issues and renews producer licenses; the Commerce Fraud Bureau investigates insurance fraud as a law-enforcement unit. Statutes say "the commissioner"; some functions are exercised by a Director or Deputy Commissioner under delegated authority. Treat Commissioner, Director, and Department of Commerce as the same authority unless a question distinguishes them. The role is regulatory, not advocacy — the Commissioner enforces the code but does not act as a claimant's attorney.

Powers (Minn. Stat. § 45.027). Over every person Commerce licenses, including producers, the Commissioner may:

• Investigate, publicly or privately, inside or outside Minnesota;
• Examine records — free access during normal business hours to a licensee's books, accounts, records, and files (a producer cannot refuse);
• Subpoena witnesses, compel attendance, administer oaths, and require production of documents;
• Issue cease and desist orders — a requested hearing must be held not later than ten days after the request is received, the administrative law judge issues a report within ten days after the hearing, and an unchallenged order becomes permanent if no hearing is requested within 30 days of service (Minn. Stat. § 45.027; checked 2026-09-05);
• Impose civil penalties not to exceed $10,000 per violation (Minn. Stat. § 45.027; checked 2026-09-05);
• Deny, suspend, revoke, or censure a license — a revocation bars a new application for at least two years from the effective date of the revocation (Minn. Stat. § 45.027; checked 2026-09-05);
• Order restitution and seek court enforcement.

Contested cases proceed under Minnesota's Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 14): a hearing before an administrative law judge, with judicial review. The Commissioner also examines the financial condition and market conduct of insurers and may accept another state's examination report under NAIC accreditation; an impaired or insolvent insurer goes into court-supervised rehabilitation or liquidation with the Commissioner as rehabilitator or liquidator — the trigger for the guaranty association in Section 6. Consumers complain directly to Commerce, and failure to respond to a Commerce inquiry is itself grounds for discipline.

2. Producer Licensing

Who must be licensed

Under Chapter 60K, a person who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance in Minnesota must hold a producer license for the applicable line — attempting to persuade someone to buy a specific policy is soliciting, and requires a license even if no sale results. A license authorizes the holder to act for the listed lines but creates no authority to represent or bind an insurer (§ 60K.31); that comes from the appointment. Section 60K.34 exempts, among others, insurer officers and employees who receive no commissions and do not sell or solicit, clerical staff, and persons who merely furnish group-enrollment information without commission.

Resident license requirements

1. Age and residency — at least 18 years of age (Minn. Stat. § 60K.37, subd. 2(1); checked 2026-09-05), a Minnesota resident or maintaining a Minnesota principal place of business, with no disqualifying conduct under § 60K.43.
2. Prelicensing education, Commerce-approved — 20 hours per major line of authority, and the course "must not include a course sponsored by, offered by, or affiliated with an insurance company or its producers," except a bona fide professional association (Minn. Stat. § 60K.36, subd. 4; checked 2026-09-05). Section 60K.361 prescribes content: insurance fundamentals, Minnesota law, and line-specific material.
3. Pass the Minnesota examination for each line (§ 60K.36). Commerce's current vendor is PSI, the examination fee is $45 for the Life, the Accident & Health, and the combined Life/Accident & Health producer examinations, the passing score is 70 percent, and time allowed is 2 hours for a single line or 3 hours for the combined Life, Accident & Health examination (PSI Minnesota insurance candidate bulletin; Minnesota Department of Commerce, Resident Producers; checked 2026-09-05). Examination results are valid for three years from the date of the examination (Minn. Stat. § 60K.36; checked 2026-09-05), and PSI's bulletin gives candidates 36 months after passing to submit the license application. A failed examination may be retaken, but the fee is payable each time; the bulletin states no retake cap or waiting period.
4. Fingerprints for a state and federal criminal history check (§ 60K.37, subd. 2a). Commerce charges $63.75 for electronic fingerprinting at a PSI test center (covering the BCA and FBI checks plus PSI processing) or $32.00 payable to the Minnesota Department of Commerce for manual fingerprinting, plus whatever the local facility charges to roll the prints (Minnesota Department of Commerce, Resident Producers; checked 2026-09-05).
5. Application and fee — filed electronically (NIPR/Sircon) with an attestation that all statements are true, correct, and complete. The statutory license fee is $50 initial and $50 renewal for an individual producer license (life, accident and health, property, casualty, variable, personal lines, or limited lines) and $200 initial and $200 renewal for a business entity, plus a technology surcharge of up to $40 under § 45.24 (Minn. Stat. § 60K.55; checked 2026-09-05).

Section 60K.36, subd. 4a waives prelicensing education for certain insurance degrees and designations (CLU, ChFC, CFP, CEBS, and comparable). The exam is separate — a designation waiver does not excuse it.

Lines of authority and appointment

Section 60K.38 defines licensable lines. Relevant here: life (including annuities) and accident and health (or sickness). Variable life and variable annuity is a separate line, and selling variable products also requires FINRA securities registration. Minnesota also issues limited lines licenses (credit, travel, bail bond, title), some exempt from examination.

A license lets you act as a producer; an appointment lets you transact for a particular insurer. Under § 60K.49 the insurer files the appointment and pays the fee. You may hold a license before any appointment but must be appointed to write for that carrier, and appointment is per insurer. On termination, the insurer must notify the Commissioner and, if for cause (fraud, misappropriation, a code violation), report the reason (§ 60K.51); insurers have qualified immunity for good-faith reports. The appointing insurer must file the notice of appointment within 15 days from the date the agency contract is executed or the first insurance application is submitted, and pays the appointment fee set by § 60A.14, subd. 1 (Minn. Stat. § 60K.49; checked 2026-09-05). On termination the insurer notifies the Commissioner within 30 days following the effective date of termination and mails a copy of that notice to the producer within 15 days after notifying the Commissioner (Minn. Stat. § 60K.51; checked 2026-09-05).

Renewal and continuing education

Note — read the statute carefully here. Section 60K.38 does not set a fixed term: "An insurance producer license remains in effect unless revoked or suspended as long as the fee set forth in section 60K.55 is paid, continuing education requirements for resident individual producers are met, and all additional documentation required by the commissioner is provided by the renewal date" (Minn. Stat. § 60K.38; checked 2026-09-05). The license is therefore perpetual-with-a-renewal-date, not a term license that lapses on its own. Commerce administers that renewal date on a biennial cycle keyed to the producer's birth month [VERIFY — the birth-month renewal date is Commerce administrative practice, not a figure stated in ch. 60K; the Commerce renewal page could not be retrieved for this check].

Section 60K.56 requires each person subject to it to complete a minimum of 24 credit hours of Commerce-accredited courses during each licensing period, of which three hours must be in the area of ethics — ethics credits are a subset of the 24, not additional to them (Minn. Stat. § 60K.56, subd. 6; checked 2026-09-05). Also:

• No more than one-half of the credit hours (so no more than 12 of the 24) may be credited for attending courses "sponsored by, offered by, or affiliated with an insurance company or its agents." A course provided by a bona fide insurance trade association does not count as insurance-company-affiliated, wherever it is held (Minn. Stat. § 60K.56, subd. 6; checked 2026-09-05).
• Correction — there is no 30-day advance window. The statutory deadline is the renewal date itself: if the education or reporting requirement is not met "for any licensing period, no license may be renewed or continued in force for that person for any class of insurance beginning the day after the renewal was due," and that person may not act as a producer until compliance is demonstrated (Minn. Stat. § 60K.56, subd. 9; checked 2026-09-05). Credits must be completed and reported on or before the renewal date — filing early is prudent because posting takes time, but no earlier statutory cut-off exists.
• No carryover of excess hours, and no repeating a course for credit in the same period [VERIFY — § 60K.56 as read on 2026-09-05 contains no carryover provision and no general course-repetition bar; its only no-double-credit rule (subd. 5(b)) covers professional designation examinations. Confirm the carryover and repetition rules with Commerce.]
• The Commissioner may grant "a waiver or an extension of time up to 90 days to complete the minimum education requirement to an individual upon a showing of good cause"; the license stays in effect while a properly filed request is pending, and if the request is denied the licensee has 30 days to satisfy the requirement or the Commissioner terminates the license (Minn. Stat. § 60K.56, subd. 7; checked 2026-09-05).
• No license may be renewed or continued in force until CE is satisfied, and a noncompliant person may not act as a producer (Minn. Stat. § 60K.56, subd. 9). An individual producer who lets the license lapse may reinstate within 12 months from the due date of the renewal fee without retaking the written examination, and "a penalty in the amount of twice the unpaid renewal fee" is due on any renewal fee received after the due date; past that window the applicant must requalify (Minn. Stat. § 60K.38; checked 2026-09-05).
• Nonresidents are generally exempt if they meet home-state CE — but the annuity training requirement (Section 7) reaches nonresidents selling annuities to Minnesotans [VERIFY — neither § 60K.39 (nonresident licensing) nor § 60K.56 states a home-state CE exemption on its face; confirm with Commerce.]

Temporary and nonresident licenses

Temporary (§ 60K.42). The Commissioner may issue a temporary license without examination to preserve the business of a producer who has died, become disabled, or entered active military service — to a surviving spouse or personal representative, a designated employee, or a member of the producer's business. It is limited in duration to a period not to exceed 180 days (Minn. Stat. § 60K.42; checked 2026-09-05), and may carry conditions.

Nonresident (§ 60K.39). Minnesota issues a nonresident license on a reciprocal basis to a person licensed and in good standing in their home state who files the proper application and fee. No Minnesota exam or prelicensing education is required, but nonresidents remain subject to Minnesota's trade-practice laws for Minnesota business.

Grounds for denial, suspension, or revocation (§ 60K.43)

The Commissioner may deny, suspend, revoke, refuse to renew, or censure — and impose civil penalties — for causes including: materially incorrect, misleading, or untrue information in an application; violating any insurance law, rule, subpoena, or order of the Commissioner or another state's regulator; obtaining a license by misrepresentation or fraud; improperly withholding, misappropriating, or converting money received in insurance business (including commingling premium); intentionally misrepresenting policy terms; conviction of a felony or a crime involving fraud or moral turpitude; committing an unfair trade practice or fraud; fraudulent, coercive, or dishonest practices, or incompetence, untrustworthiness, or financial irresponsibility; having a license denied, suspended, or revoked in another jurisdiction; forging a name to an insurance document; cheating on a licensing exam; knowingly accepting business from an unlicensed person; and failing to comply with a child-support order or a state tax obligation.

Producers must report to the Commissioner any administrative action by another jurisdiction or governmental agency within 30 days of the final disposition of the matter, and any criminal prosecution in any jurisdiction within 30 days of the date the prosecution begins; a felony or gross misdemeanor conviction or guilty plea must be reported within ten days (Minn. Stat. § 60K.54; checked 2026-09-05). Surrendering a license does not end the Commissioner's authority to proceed.