How Much Does an Iowa Life and Health Insurance License Cost? (2026 Fees)

Getting an Iowa Life and Health insurance license costs $138 in exam and license fees if you pass both exams on your first attempt: $44 for the Life exam, $44 for the Accident & Health exam and $50 for the license. If you need only one line, it is $94: one $44 exam plus the $50 license. Resident applicants are also fingerprinted, which carries its own charge, covered below. There is no pre-licensing course sitting on top of that total, because Iowa does not require one. Your only other spending is optional exam preparation.

• Exam fee: $44 per attempt, for each of the two exams
• License fee: $50 for a 3-year term
• Exam and license fees, first-attempt pass on both exams: $138
• Exam and license fees, one line only: $94
• Fingerprinting: required for an initial resident license; the Fieldprint fee is listed below and is not included in either total
• Pre-licensing course: none required
• Exam preparation: optional, $0 to $79 for a focused course
• Continuing education: 36 credits every 3 years, including 3 ethics credits

1. Exam Fee, $44 Per Exam

Paid to Pearson VUE, the Iowa Insurance Division's contracted exam vendor, when you make your reservation. The Life exam and the Accident & Health exam are $44 each, and because Iowa has no combined exam, a candidate who wants both lines pays both fees. The fee is paid again for every attempt. Exam fees are non-refundable and non-transferable except under Pearson VUE's change and cancel policy, which requires at least 48 hours' notice; otherwise you forfeit the fee. An exam voucher, if you buy one, expires 12 months after it is issued and cannot be refunded or returned.

2. License Fee, $50

Charged by the Iowa Insurance Division for a producer license. Iowa Code 522B.5 makes payment of the license fee of fifty dollars a condition of approval, and the Division's fee rule agrees exactly: "The fee for issuance or renewal of a producer license is $50 for three years" (IAC 191-10.26(3)). The $50 is a single fee for the license, the same whether it carries one line or both, so it appears once in both the $94 and the $138 totals.

3. Fingerprinting for Initial Resident Applicants

An initial resident producer license requires a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history check. The Division's fingerprinting page names Fieldprint as the vendor and says the prints are taken after the NIPR application is submitted: the application confirmation contains the Fieldprint code you need to schedule an appointment. A licensed resident producer who renews on time is not fingerprinted again. The Fieldprint appointment fee is $37.35 at an Iowa location and $39.35 outside Iowa.

One point is unresolved, so this guide does not put a total on fingerprinting. The Division's fee rule, IAC 191-10.26(8), also states a $50 fee for a criminal history check, while the Division's fingerprinting page lists only the Fieldprint fee and does not restate that $50. The two sources are not reconciled, so this guide does not add them together. Check what you are asked to pay when you schedule your appointment.

Every attempt costs the exam fee again, win or lose: $44 for whichever exam you retake. A retake is the whole exam again, and the $50 license fee is paid once, so a retake adds only the exam fee.

The Candidate Handbook requires a wait of 24 hours before you make the reservation for a retake, and reservations for reexamination are not made at the test center. There is no fee waiver for a retake, and the Handbook states no cap on the number of retakes. Change or cancel any appointment at least 48 hours ahead, or you forfeit that attempt's fee. For the content outline, the biggest exam-day mistakes, and a study plan built around them, read our companion guide, How to Pass the Iowa Life and Health Insurance Exams on the First Try.

Iowa does not require a pre-licensing course for the Life line or the Accident & Health line. Iowa Code 522B.5 lists the conditions for a resident producer license, and education is not among them: the applicant must be at least 18, have no disqualifying act, have paid the $50 license fee, have passed the required examinations and have the requisite character and competence. There is no course fee to budget, no classroom-hour minimum, and no completion certificate to produce before you register for the exam or file your license application. The only education in Iowa's producer rules comes after you are licensed, as continuing education.

Pearson VUE's Candidate Handbook describes the whole path in three steps: make a reservation and pay the exam fee, take the exam, and apply for a license. There is no course step. Fingerprinting is a separate matter: initial resident applicants are fingerprinted after they apply, and that charge belongs in your budget.

Once licensed, a resident producer must complete 36 credits of Division-approved continuing education in each 3-year CE term, including 3 credits of ethics (IAC 191-11.3(1)). Credits earned beyond the requirement do not carry over from one term to the next (IAC 191-11.3(3)). Instead of taking courses, a producer may satisfy the entire requirement by retaking and passing the licensing exam for each qualification held (IAC 191-11.3(7)); each attempt is a new $44 exam fee. This guide does not quote a dollar figure for continuing education courses; compare approved providers as your renewal period approaches.

Renewal itself is $50 every 3 years, the same fee as the original license (IAC 191-10.26(3)). If a license lapses, you can reinstate it within 12 months of the due date of the renewal fee without passing a written examination (Iowa Code 522B.6(4)), by paying a $100 reinstatement fee in addition to the $50 renewal fee (IAC 191-10.26(5)), so $150 in all. Once a license has been expired for more than 12 months, a new exam is no longer optional. A licensed resident producer who renews on time is not fingerprinted again.

Exam preparation is the one cost on this page you fully control.

$0, the free stack. Pearson VUE publishes the content outlines for the Iowa exams, with the number of scored items in every section, and its Iowa Insurance Licensing Candidate Handbook explains the format, fees, scheduling and identification rules. Together they tell you what is tested, not how the material works or how Iowa law applies to it.

$14.99 to $79, a focused exam-prep course. LanePrep's Iowa Life and Health course is nine audio chapters built from Pearson VUE's own content outlines, with a chapter quiz after every chapter. It costs $14.99 per month or $79 once as a one-time purchase. Chapters 1 and 9 are free, no signup, so you can judge the format before paying for either option.

Three realistic budgets for an individual resident applicant. Each one is in exam and license fees; the fingerprinting charge comes on top of every scenario.

Pass both exams on the first attempt: $138 plus preparation

• Exam fees $44 + $44 = $88
• License fee $50
• Fingerprinting: required for an initial resident license, charge extra
• Preparation: free stack ($0), one month of LanePrep ($14.99), or the one-time option ($79)

Fail one exam once, pass on the second attempt: $182 plus preparation

• Exam fees $44 per attempt, three attempts in all (both exams plus the one retake), so $132
• License fee $50, paid once
• Fingerprinting: required for an initial resident license, charge extra
• Preparation: as above, with a re-drill of the questions you missed

Take one line only: $94 plus preparation

• Exam fee $44, one attempt
• License fee $50, the same for one line as for two
• Fingerprinting: required for an initial resident license, charge extra
• Why you might: you only need one line of authority

A retake adds the exam fee again, $44 per exam retaken, with no license fee repeated.

For most self-directed candidates the cost-optimal path is:

1. Prepare from a course built for these exams' outlines specifically, for whichever of the two lines you plan to take.
2. Schedule and pass the exam or exams through Pearson VUE, at a test center or online through OnVUE.
3. Apply for your license within 90 days of passing, pay the $50 license fee, and, if you are an initial resident applicant, have your fingerprints taken through Fieldprint after you submit your NIPR application.

LanePrep covers step 1: nine audio chapters built from the Iowa content outlines, each with its own quiz, for $14.99 per month or $79 once. Chapters 1 and 9 are free, and the full course is at /ia/l-and-h. For the exams themselves, the outline, and a study plan, read our companion guide, How to Pass the Iowa Life and Health Insurance Exams on the First Try.

Fees come from Pearson VUE's Iowa Insurance Licensing Candidate Handbook and content outlines, the Iowa Insurance Division's fingerprinting page, Iowa Code 522B.5 and 522B.6, and IAC 191-10.26 and 191-11.3. Read October 2026.