- What Is CA-LAHS Certification?
- Who Administers the Exam and How Registration Works
- Exam Format, Timing, and Scoring
- The Eight Content Domains
- Licensing Requirements Before and After You Pass
- Continuing Education and Renewal
- Who Pursues the CA-LAHS License
- How to Structure Your Preparation
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CA-LAHS is the California Department of Insurance combined Life, Accident, and Health or Sickness agent exam, delivered via PSI.
- The exam has 150 multiple-choice questions across 8 domains, a 3-hour limit, and a 60% passing score.
- Total cost per attempt is $98 ($55 state fee plus $43 PSI convenience fee); license filing/renewal runs $188.
- Since January 1, 2026, the 20-hour line-specific prelicensing requirement was eliminated, but 12 hours of Ethics and Insurance Code study remain mandatory.
What Is CA-LAHS Certification?
CA-LAHS stands for the California Life, Accident & Health or Sickness Insurance Exam - the state licensing test administered by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) for anyone who wants to sell life insurance, accident insurance, health insurance, or sickness insurance products in California. It is not a private industry credential or professional designation; it's the regulatory gatekeeping exam that stands between an applicant and an active resident insurance producer license covering these lines of authority.
Passing the CA-LAHS exam demonstrates that a candidate understands core insurance concepts, California-specific statutes and regulations, and the mechanics of the products they'll be authorized to sell - everything from term life policies to long-term care riders. If you're still unclear on the basics of the acronym itself, our companion piece What Is CA-LAHS? breaks down the terminology in more depth, and CA-LAHS Meaning covers how the name maps to the two license lines being tested.
Who Administers the Exam and How Registration Works
The California Department of Insurance sets the licensing rules, examination objectives, and passing standard, while PSI is the third-party testing vendor that actually delivers the exam - either at a physical test center or through remote online proctoring. Candidates schedule directly with PSI once they've met the state's prelicensing education requirements.
Every attempt costs $98 total: a $55 California examination fee plus a $43 PSI convenience fee. This fee structure is the same whether you sit in a test center or test remotely, and it applies per attempt - so failing and rescheduling means paying the $98 again. For a full breakdown of every fee a candidate will encounter, from prelicensing coursework through license renewal, see CA-LAHS Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Key Takeaway
Budget for more than one attempt if you're not confident in your preparation - at $98 per sitting, a single retake meaningfully increases your total cost of licensure.
Exam Format, Timing, and Scoring
The CA-LAHS exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions, split evenly into two 75-question components: the Life component (Domains 1-3) and the Accident and Health or Sickness component (Domains 4-8). Candidates get 3 hours to complete the full combined exam, and a score of 60% is required to pass.
Because the exam blends two license lines into one test event, the displayed domain weights are calibrated so each 75-question component carries equal overall weight - even though the Accident and Health or Sickness side is spread across five domains compared to the Life side's three. That structural detail matters for how you allocate study time, since some individual domains inside the A&H component are lighter than others.
Current pass-rate data for the January through June 2026 window shows a 59% pass rate for first-time test takers and a 41% pass rate among candidates repeating the exam. That gap is worth sitting with: first attempts, backed by proper preparation, clearly outperform repeat attempts. For a deeper look at what these numbers mean for your study strategy, read CA-LAHS Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows and How Hard Is the CA-LAHS Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
The Eight Content Domains
The current examination objectives took effect January 1, 2026, and organize the combined exam into eight domains. Domains 1 through 3 belong to the Life component; Domains 4 through 8 belong to the Accident and Health or Sickness component.
Domain 1: General Insurance
Foundational insurance concepts, contract law principles, and regulatory basics that apply across the Life component.
- Insurable interest, offer/acceptance, and policy provisions
Domain 2: Life Insurance
The largest single domain on the entire exam at 32.5% weight. Candidates must know policy types, underwriting, beneficiary designations, and settlement options in depth.
- Term, whole, universal, and variable life products
- Nonforfeiture options and policy loans
Domain 3: Life Policy Riders
Add-on provisions that modify a base life policy, including waiver of premium and accelerated death benefit riders.
- How riders change coverage, cost, and claims eligibility
Domain 4: General Insurance
The Accident and Health or Sickness component's own foundational domain, covering contract principles as they apply to health-related coverage.
- Policy provisions specific to accident and health contracts
Domain 5: General Concepts of Medical and Disability Insurance
Core terminology and structural concepts shared across medical expense and disability products.
- Deductibles, coinsurance, elimination periods, and benefit periods
Domain 6: Medical Expense Insurance
The second-largest domain on the exam at 30% weight. Expect detailed questions on major medical, HMO/PPO structures, and group health provisions.
- Coordination of benefits and continuation coverage rules
Domain 7: Disability Income Insurance
Income replacement products, definitions of disability, and benefit calculation methods.
- Short-term vs. long-term disability contract features
Domain 8: Long-Term Care Insurance
LTC policy triggers, benefit structures, and consumer protection provisions unique to this line.
- Activities of daily living triggers and inflation protection options
Because Life Insurance and Medical Expense Insurance together account for 62.5% of the combined exam's weighting, these two domains deserve disproportionate study time. A full domain-by-domain breakdown with study priorities lives in CA-LAHS Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 8 Content Areas.
| Component | Domains Covered | Questions | Notable Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life | Domains 1-3 | 75 | Life Insurance domain: 32.5% of full exam |
| Accident and Health or Sickness | Domains 4-8 | 75 | Medical Expense Insurance domain: 30% of full exam |
Licensing Requirements Before and After You Pass
Passing the exam is only one piece of becoming licensed. Effective January 1, 2026, California eliminated the former 20-hour line-specific prelicensing education requirement that used to apply to Life and Accident and Health lines. That change simplified the path to sitting for the exam, but it did not remove all education requirements - applicants must still complete 12 hours of Ethics and California Insurance Code education, including 1 hour specifically on insurance fraud, before a license is actually issued.
In other words, you can now prepare for and schedule the CA-LAHS exam without first grinding through line-specific coursework, but the ethics and code education requirement stands as a licensing prerequisite regardless of when you complete it relative to your exam date. If you're mapping out your full eligibility timeline, CA-LAHS Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify walks through the sequencing in detail, and CA-LAHS Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling covers how to fit exam scheduling around these requirements.
Continuing Education and Renewal
Once licensed, resident producers must keep the license active through renewal and continuing education. The filing or renewal fee is $188, and resident licensees complete 24 continuing-education hours during each two-year license term. Of those 24 hours, 3 hours must cover ethics, and within that ethics requirement, 1 hour must specifically address insurance fraud.
This CE structure mirrors the pattern set at the prelicensing stage - ethics and fraud awareness are recurring, non-negotiable components of California's insurance regulatory framework, not one-time hurdles you clear and forget.
Who Pursues the CA-LAHS License
Because the CA-LAHS exam covers both life and health-related lines, it's the standard entry point for a wide range of insurance-selling roles in California: independent life insurance agents, health insurance brokers, employee benefits consultants, financial services representatives who cross-sell insurance products, and captive agents working under a single carrier. Insurance agencies, broker-dealers with insurance affiliates, and carriers themselves regularly seek candidates who already hold or are pursuing this combined license, since it covers more product ground than a single-line credential.
If you're evaluating whether this career path and the licensing effort are worth it, Is the CA-LAHS Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and CA-LAHS Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis go deeper into career outcomes, and CA-LAHS Jobs surveys the types of roles that typically require this license. For those weighing formal coursework options as they prepare, CA-LAHS Training outlines what preparation programs typically include.
How to Structure Your Preparation
Given that the exam splits evenly between the Life component and the Accident and Health or Sickness component, an effective study plan treats them as two distinct study blocks rather than one undifferentiated review. Because Life Insurance (Domain 2) and Medical Expense Insurance (Domain 6) are the two heaviest individual domains, they should anchor the bulk of your review time, with the remaining domains treated as supporting material that rounds out each component.
Life Component (Domains 1-3)
- Master Domain 2 (Life Insurance) policy types, underwriting, and settlement options first - it's the single heaviest domain
- Layer in Domain 1 general contract concepts and Domain 3 riders once the core product knowledge is solid
Accident and Health Component (Domains 4-8)
- Prioritize Domain 6 (Medical Expense Insurance) given its 30% weight
- Work through Domain 5 general concepts alongside Domain 6 since terminology overlaps heavily
- Finish with Domains 4, 7, and 8 as focused review sessions
Full-Length Practice Under Timed Conditions
- Simulate the full 150-question, 3-hour format at least once
- Review missed questions by domain to catch any remaining gaps
A structured, timed practice run matters more for this exam than generic memorization techniques, simply because the combined-exam format means fatigue and time management across 150 questions are real factors. Our own practice test platform is built around this exact domain breakdown so you can drill Life and A&H content separately before combining them into full-length simulations. For a step-by-step study framework, see CA-LAHS Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and keep a condensed reference like CA-LAHS Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts handy during your final review week.
Key Takeaway
Treat the Life and Accident and Health components as two separate mini-exams during preparation, then merge them into timed full-length practice only in your final week.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. CA-LAHS is a combined exam covering both the Life line (Domains 1-3) and the Accident and Health or Sickness line (Domains 4-8) in a single 150-question, 3-hour test.
Each attempt costs $98 total - a $55 California examination fee plus a $43 PSI convenience fee - regardless of whether you test at a physical center or remotely via online proctoring.
No. Effective January 1, 2026, California eliminated the former 20-hour line-specific prelicensing requirement. Applicants still must complete 12 hours of Ethics and California Insurance Code education, including 1 hour on insurance fraud, before a license is issued.
You need 60% correct across the 150 multiple-choice questions, which works out to roughly 90 correct answers within the 3-hour time limit.
Resident licensees complete 24 continuing-education hours per two-year license term, including 3 hours of ethics with 1 of those hours dedicated to insurance fraud, alongside the $188 filing or renewal fee.