Ohio Life & Health Insurance Exam — Study Guide

How to use this chapter. Everything before this point is national content. This chapter is the other half of your exam: the Ohio-specific portion, drawn from the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Title 39 and the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) Title 3901. It is where most repeat test-takers lose their attempt — and it is finite, rule-based, and highly repetitive. Learn the structure first, then the numbers.

Vocabulary warning, and it is tested. ORC Chapter 3905 is captioned the Insurance Producers Licensing Act, but the operative Ohio term throughout the statute is "insurance agent," not "producer." Ohio's regulator is likewise the Department of Insurance, headed by the Superintendent of Insurance — an office held by the Director of Insurance. Ohio does not use "Commissioner." Expect the exam to use agent and Superintendent, and do not let a national textbook's "producer/Commissioner" habit talk you out of the right answer.

A word about numbers. Ohio's rules are stable; the numbers attached to them are not. Fees, CE hours, pre-licensing hours, license terms, filing windows, guaranty caps, and free-look days are set by statute, rule, or Department bulletin and are amended by the General Assembly and by rule review. Most figures in this chapter now carry an inline citation to the Ohio Revised Code section, Ohio Administrative Code rule, or Department bulletin they were read from, together with the date they were read — for example (ORC 3905.481; checked 2026-09-05). A citation records where a number came from and when; it is not a promise that the number has not moved since. A smaller number of figures could not be confirmed from a primary source, and those are still marked [verify current with the Ohio Department of Insurance]. Such a flag is never about whether a rule exists — it exists, and is stated affirmatively — only about the number attached to it. Confirm any figure at codes.ohio.gov or insurance.ohio.gov before you rely on it professionally.

1. The Ohio Department of Insurance, the Superintendent, and enforcement

Ohio regulates the business of insurance through the Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI), an administrative department of state government (ORC 3901.011). Its chief officer is the Superintendent of Insurance; by statute the Director of Insurance is the Superintendent of Insurance (ORC 3901.02), so the two titles name one person. The Superintendent is appointed by the Governor and must meet statutory experience qualifications, and may act through deputies and examiners.

General powers (ORC 3901.04, 3901.041). The Superintendent administers and enforces Title 39, adopts rules — the source of every OAC 3901 chapter cited here — issues orders, holds hearings, conducts investigations and examinations, and may compel the production of books, papers, and testimony. The Superintendent may subpoena witnesses and documents, administer oaths, and take depositions, and may apply to a court of common pleas to enforce a subpoena. Formal adjudications run under Ohio's Administrative Procedure Act, ORC Chapter 119, which supplies the notice, hearing, record, and appeal machinery; a party adversely affected by an adjudication order may appeal to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas under ORC 119.12.

Examinations (ORC 3901.07, 3901.011). The Superintendent examines the affairs, transactions, accounts, records, and assets of every authorized insurer at least once every three years, provided that the Superintendent may defer an examination for a longer period not to exceed five years, and may examine any insurer as often as the Superintendent considers it desirable (ORC 3901.07(B)(2)-(3); checked 2026-09-05). The authority reaches insurers, their affiliates and holding-company members, managing general agents (ORC 3905.74, 3905.75), third-party administrators, and licensed agents. Examiners may access records, take testimony under oath, and the Superintendent may accept another state's examination report for a foreign insurer. Learn the sequence: examine → examiner in charge makes a true report, verified under oath → the examined insurer may file written objections within thirty days after the postmark on the envelope in which the report was mailed → the objections are attached to and made part of the report → the report is placed in the Department's files as a public record (ORC 3901.07(H)-(I); checked 2026-09-05). Refusing or obstructing an examination is itself a ground for administrative action.

Enforcement against agents. Under ORC 3905.14 the Superintendent may suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue or renew an agent's license, and on finding a violation may take one or more of the actions listed in division (E): assess a civil penalty not exceeding $25,000 per violation; assess administrative costs; suspend or permanently revoke all licenses for all lines; refuse to issue or renew; prohibit the person from any employment in the business of insurance and from holding a financial interest in an Ohio agency, insurer, surety bail bond business, or third-party administrator; order corrective action; or accept a surrender for cause of at least five years (ORC 3905.14(E); checked 2026-09-05). Recent change — and it corrects a claim you will find in most guides. Senate Bill 175 rewrote this section effective October 24, 2024, and restitution and forfeiture of commissions are not among the Superintendent's own sanctions. Restitution appears in ORC 3905.14 only as a factor the Superintendent may consider in setting a penalty (division (F)(2)) and as relief a court may impose in an action the Attorney General brings at the Superintendent's request (division (I)(3)). Forfeiture of commissions is a remedy of the replacement rule, OAC 3901-6-05(J)(4) — not of ORC 3905.14. Under the unfair-practices article the Superintendent issues cease and desist orders after hearing and may assess a civil penalty of not more than $3,500 for each violation, but not to exceed an aggregate penalty of $35,000 in any six-month period, and not more than $10,000 for each violation of a cease and desist order (ORC 3901.22; checked 2026-09-05). ORC 3901.221 supplies a separate emergency cease and desist power where a violation of ORC 3901.20 has caused, is causing, or is about to cause substantial and material harm: the order takes effect immediately on notice, a hearing on continuing or revoking it is set for not more than fifteen days after the order, and the Superintendent issues a final order within fifteen days after objections to the hearing officer's report (ORC 3901.221, as amended eff. October 24, 2024; checked 2026-09-05). ORC 3905.15 gives a licensee the right to a hearing to seek modification of an administrative action, and ORC 3905.16 makes clear that surrendering a license does not divest the Superintendent of jurisdiction over conduct that occurred while licensed.

Fraud. Ohio treats insurance fraud as a crime: ORC 2913.47 defines the offense of insurance fraud (knowingly presenting false or deceptive statements in support of a claim or application), with the degree of the offense scaling to the amount of the false or deceptive claim: a misdemeanor of the first degree by default; a felony of the fifth degree where the amount is $1,000 or more and less than $7,500; a felony of the fourth degree at $7,500 or more and less than $150,000; and a felony of the third degree at $150,000 or more (ORC 2913.47(C); checked 2026-09-05). Recent change: these thresholds were amended by Senate Bill 175, effective October 24, 2024 — a bank or guide written earlier may key the old degrees. The Department maintains a Fraud and Enforcement Division, and ORC 3999.42 requires an insurer with a reasonable belief that a person is perpetrating or facilitating insurance fraud to notify the Department — a duty that does not apply where the insurance fraud involves a claim of an amount less than one thousand dollars (ORC 3999.42(C); checked 2026-09-05). The statute sets no deadline of its own; notification is made in accordance with rules adopted by the Department (ORC 3999.42(B)), so [verify the current reporting window and reporting form with the Ohio Department of Insurance]. ORC 3901.44 and related sections make fraud-investigation records confidential and provide immunity for good-faith reports. Producer takeaway: report suspected fraud through your insurer's SIU and to the Department; good-faith reporting is protected by statute.

2. Agent licensing

Who must be licensed

ORC 3905.02 makes it unlawful for a person to sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance in Ohio without a license issued under Chapter 3905. Memorize the three verbs and their statutory definitions in ORC 3905.01: sell = exchange a contract of insurance by any means, on behalf of an insurer, for money or other consideration; solicit = attempt to sell insurance or ask or urge a person to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular insurer; negotiate = confer directly with, or offer advice directly to, a purchaser or prospective purchaser concerning the substantive benefits, terms, or conditions of a contract, provided the person engaged in the act sells insurance or obtains insurance from insurers for purchasers.

ORC 3905.03 lists the exceptions — officers and salaried employees who do not sell, solicit, or negotiate and are not paid commissions; persons performing purely clerical or administrative functions; and similar categories. Separate or limited licenses exist for surplus lines brokers (ORC 3905.30), managing general agents (ORC 3905.71-.79), reinsurance intermediaries (ORC 3905.81), surety bail bond agents (ORC 3905.83 et seq.), portable electronics (ORC 3905.062), self-service storage (ORC 3905.063), travel insurance (ORC 3905.065), and insurance navigators / in-person assisters for the health marketplace (ORC 3905.471-.474).

Resident license requirements

1. Complete pre-licensing education. Ohio requires a program of insurance education before examination. Under the Superintendent's rules, a candidate must have completed, for each line of authority for which the candidate has applied, twenty hours of study in a program of insurance education approved by the Superintendent (so a Life and Accident & Health candidate completes 20 hours for Life and 20 hours for Accident & Health; Property, Casualty, Personal Lines, and Surety Bail Bonds are 20 hours each as well) (ORC 3905.04(C)(1)(c); OAC 3901-5-09(D)(2)(a); checked 2026-09-05). Two statutory alternatives excuse the course entirely: a bachelor's or associate's degree in insurance from an accredited institution, or a professional designation approved by the Superintendent (ORC 3905.04(C)(1)(a)-(b)). A course-completion certificate is valid for 180 calendar days from its date of issuance (Ohio Department of Insurance, Insurance License Examination Candidate Information Bulletin (PSI); checked 2026-09-05). ORC 3905.041 provides exceptions from the education or examination requirement for certain applicants (for example, specified professional designations and limited lines).
2. Pass the Ohio licensing examination for each line of authority (ORC 3905.04). The Department's contracted vendor is PSI Services LLC. The combined Ohio Life, Accident and Health Insurance Agent examination (Series 11-35) is 150 questions in 2.5 hours; the single-line Ohio Life (Series 11-44) and Ohio Accident and Health (Series 11-45) examinations are 100 questions in 2 hours each; and the examination fee is $42, non-refundable and non-transferable but valid for one year from payment. There is no limit on the number of retakes, though you cannot book a new appointment on the same day you tested (Ohio Department of Insurance, Insurance License Examination Candidate Information Bulletin (PSI), last revised 12/6/2017; checked 2026-09-05). The bulletin the Department publishes does not state a passing score, and neither ORC 3905.04 nor the OAC 3901-5 rules fix one, so [verify the current passing score with the Ohio Department of Insurance or PSI] — and note that bulletin's revision date when you check the fee.
3. Submit fingerprints for a criminal records check through the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the FBI (ORC 3905.051), at the applicant's expense; results are confidential.
4. Apply on the Superintendent's prescribed form (ORC 3905.05) and pay the license fee — ten dollars for each line of authority requested, and a twenty-five dollar biennial renewal fee thereafter (ORC 3905.40(A); checked 2026-09-05); fees are credited under ORC 3905.41. The applicant must be at least eighteen years of age, must not have committed any act that is a ground for denial under ORC 3905.14, and — for the variable life/variable annuity line — must be FINRA-registered having passed a Series 6, 7, 63, 66, or other approved examination (ORC 3905.06(A)(1); checked 2026-09-05). The completed application cannot be filed until every required examination is passed, and must be submitted within 180 calendar days of passing (OAC 3901-5-09(D)(3); checked 2026-09-05).
5. Receive the license and lines of authority under ORC 3905.06, which identifies the lines — including life and accident and health or sickness — and provides that the license remains in effect unless suspended or revoked so long as the licensee timely renews and pays fees.

Appointment by insurers

Ohio is an appointment state. Under ORC 3905.20, to appoint an agent an insurer must file a notice of appointment with the Superintendent not later than thirty days after the date the agency contract is executed or the first insurance application is submitted, whichever is earlier (ORC 3905.20; OAC 3901-5-09(K)(1); checked 2026-09-05), and pay an appointment fee of not more than twenty dollars (ORC 3905.40(A); checked 2026-09-05). An agent may hold appointments with multiple insurers. Appointments renew automatically on the first day of July each year unless the insurer terminates the appointment before the renewal date; the Superintendent bills insurers for initial and renewal appointment fees; and no appointment is effective unless the appointee is licensed for that line of authority (OAC 3901-5-09(K)(3)-(5); checked 2026-09-05).

Termination — ORC 3905.21. An insurer that terminates the appointment, employment, contract, or other business relationship with an agent must notify the Superintendent within 30 days after the effective date of the termination, and must mail a copy of that notification to the agent at the agent's last known address within 15 days after notifying the Superintendent. If the termination was for any of the reasons in ORC 3905.14(B), the copy must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by overnight delivery using a nationally recognized carrier (ORC 3905.21(A)-(C); checked 2026-09-05). ORC 3905.211 grants insurers and their representatives immunity for information furnished in good faith under these sections, and ORC 3905.212 provides sanctions for failure to comply.

Two classic traps: a license and an appointment are different things — you can hold a license with no appointments, but you may not transact for an insurer that has not appointed you; and losing every appointment does not cancel your license.

Term, renewal, and continuing education

An Ohio resident agent license is renewed biennially, on or before the last day of the licensee's birth month, and expires on the last day of the birth month every two years thereafter (ORC 3905.06(C)(1); OAC 3901-5-09(J)(2)-(3); checked 2026-09-05). The first cycle is prorated: no transition period from initial licensure to first expiration is less than eighteen months or more than twenty-nine months. Business entities do not follow a birth month — resident entities renew by the last day of September in even-numbered years, nonresident entities by the last day of September in odd-numbered years, and surety bail bond licenses renew annually by April 1 (OAC 3901-5-09(J)(4)-(6); checked 2026-09-05).

Continuing education — ORC 3905.481; OAC 3901-5-01 through 3901-5-06 and 3901-5-09. Ohio requires continuing education in Department-approved courses before renewal. A resident agent holding major lines (life, accident and health, property, casualty, personal lines) must complete at least twenty-four hours of continuing education for each license renewal period, including at least three hours of approved ethics training (ORC 3905.481; OAC 3901-5-09(J)(1)(c)(i); checked 2026-09-05). Different totals apply to certain limited licenses: a title-only agent owes 12 credits, ten of them title-specific and two ethics; a surety bail bond-only agent owes 7 credits, six surety-bail-bond-specific and one ethics; and an agent holding both title and a major line owes 24 credits with at least ten title credits and at least three ethics credits (OAC 3901-5-09(J)(1)(c)(ii)-(iii); OAC 3901-5-01(D)(3)-(4); checked 2026-09-05). Mechanics that are tested regardless of the numbers: courses must be Department-approved and taken from approved providers; providers report completions to the Department's CE tracking system, but the licensee remains responsible for satisfying the requirement by the deadline; excess hours carry over to the next renewal period only up to fifty per cent of that period's requirement — twelve hours for a major-lines agent — and they carry over as general credit, not as ethics (OAC 3901-5-01(E)(7); checked 2026-09-05), while CE credits from another state do not transfer to Ohio and agents on inactive status or holding only limited lines are exempt from the ORC 3905.481 requirement altogether (OAC 3901-5-01(D)-(E); checked 2026-09-05); and specialty training mandates layer on top of CE — most importantly the one-time four credit annuity best-interest training discussed in Section 7. ORC 3905.483 through 3905.486 establish the Insurance Agent Education Advisory Council and the criteria and fee schedules for approved courses.

Failure to renew. Ohio builds this as a three-rung ladder, and the exam tests the rungs. (1) Late renewal: a missed renewal may still be cured by a late renewal application filed before the first day of the second month following the renewal date, with the renewal fee plus a fifty dollar late fee. (2) Suspension for nonrenewal: on that first day of the second month the license is automatically suspended, and the person is then eligible to apply for reinstatement within the twelve-month period following the date by which the license should have been renewed, paying the renewal fee plus a one hundred dollar reinstatement fee. (3) Cancellation: a license not reinstated in that window is automatically canceled, and the former licensee must reapply as a new applicant — pre-licensing education and re-examination included (ORC 3905.06(D)-(F); OAC 3901-5-09(J)(1)(d); checked 2026-09-05). CE credits earned during the late renewal or reinstatement period do count toward that renewal (OAC 3901-5-01(E)(8)), and the Superintendent waives the late and reinstatement fees for active military service and may waive them for long-term medical disability.

Temporary and nonresident licenses

Temporary — ORC 3905.09. The Superintendent may issue a temporary insurance agent license without examination, for a period not to exceed one hundred eighty days (ORC 3905.09(A); checked 2026-09-05), to: (1) the surviving spouse or court-appointed personal representative of a licensed agent who dies or becomes mentally or physically disabled, to allow adequate time to sell the business, for the agent's recovery or return, or to train and license new personnel; (2) a member or employee of a licensed business entity upon the death or disability of the sole or remaining licensed agent; (3) the designee of a licensed agent entering active service in the United States armed forces; and (4) any other person where the Superintendent determines the public interest is best served. A temporary licensee must be sponsored by a licensed agent or insurer, and the sponsor is responsible for all acts of the temporary licensee — a favorite exam point.