How Much Does a Kansas Life and Health Insurance License Cost? (2026 Fees)

Getting a Kansas Life and Health insurance license costs $134 if you pass the combined exam on your first attempt: $64 for the exam, a $10 application fee (the 2026 amount) and a $60 criminal background-check fee. There is no pre-licensing course sitting on top of that total, because Kansas does not require one, and the fingerprinting itself is free at the Kansas Department of Insurance's Topeka office and at Department for Children and Families locations. Your only other spending is optional exam preparation.

• Exam fee: $64 per attempt for the combined exam, $57 per attempt for each single-line exam
• Application fee: $10 for 2026, reset by the Commissioner each December (the statute caps it at $30)
• Criminal background-check fee: $60
• Total, first-attempt pass with the combined exam: $134
• Fingerprinting itself: free at the Department's Topeka office and Department for Children and Families locations, or an optional $20 at a Pearson test center
• Pre-licensing course: none required
• Exam preparation: optional, $0 to $79 for a focused course
• Continuing education: 18 hours every two years, including 3 ethics hours

1. Exam Fee, $64 Combined or $57 Per Single-Line Exam

Paid to Pearson VUE, the Kansas Department of Insurance's contracted exam vendor, when you register. The combined Life and Accident & Health exam is $64. The Life exam and the Accident & Health exam are $57 each. The fee is paid again for every attempt. Exam fees are non-refundable and non-transferable except under Pearson's change and cancel policy: call at least 48 hours before the exam to change or cancel without forfeiting the fee. Vouchers expire 12 months after they are issued and cannot be refunded or returned.

2. Application Fee, $10 in 2026

The fee for a resident producer license application is a nonrefundable fee set by the Commissioner (K.S.A. 40-4905(b)), capped by the statute at $30 and reset each December for the next calendar year (K.S.A. 40-4905(i)). The Kansas Register's Notice of Fee Amounts (Vol. 44, No. 47, November 20, 2025) sets it at $10 for January 1 through December 31, 2026; the 2025 fee was $15. Pearson's Candidate Handbook still prints $30, but that is the cap, not the fee charged. If you apply in a later year, check that year's notice.

3. Criminal Background-Check Fee, $60

A state and national criminal history check is a standard step for a first-time resident applicant, and the fee for it is $60. The Kansas Register lists it as the 2026 fingerprint fee under K.S.A. 40-4905, and the Department's Producer Licensing and Fingerprint FAQ pages and Pearson's Candidate Handbook all state the same $60.

4. Fingerprinting Itself, Free or $20

The Department's Fingerprint FAQ says fingerprinting is offered at no cost at its Topeka office and at six Department for Children and Families locations statewide. Pearson also offers digital fingerprinting for $20 at its Overland Park, Topeka and Wichita test centers, booked separately from the exam. That $20 is an optional convenience charge on top of the $60 background-check fee, not a substitute for it.

Every attempt costs the exam fee again, win or lose: $64 for the combined exam, or $57 for whichever single-line exam you retake. Two attempts on the combined exam are $128 in exam fees and three are $192. A retake is the whole exam again, because the combined exam has one score, and the $10 application fee and the $60 background-check fee are not repeated.

The Candidate Handbook requires a wait of at least 24 hours before you schedule a retest, and a candidate who fails currently must wait at least seven calendar days before retaking the exam. There is no limit on the number of attempts. Call Pearson at least 48 hours ahead to change or cancel an appointment, or you forfeit that attempt's fee. For the content outline, the biggest exam-day mistakes, and a study plan built around them, see how to pass the Kansas Life and Health exam on the first try.

Kansas does not require a pre-licensing course for the Life line, the Accident & Health line or the combined exam. The Department of Insurance says so on its Producer Examinations page: "Kansas does not mandate pre-licensing education," and you can take the licensing examination without buying exam preparation study materials or taking a study course. Pearson's Candidate Handbook says it just as directly: "Kansas does not have a pre-licensing education requirement." 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 statutes agree: K.S.A. 40-4905(b) lists the conditions for a resident license (age 18, no disqualifying act, the application fee and a passed examination) and K.A.R. 40-7-13(a) defines what the exam tests, and neither names a course. Fingerprinting is a separate matter: a first-time resident applicant goes through a criminal history check, and the $60 fee for it belongs in your budget.

Once licensed, a Kansas producer must earn 18 hours of Department-approved continuing education every two years, including 3 hours of ethics (K.S.A. 40-4903(c)). The due date is the last day of your birth month: in odd-numbered years if you were born in an odd-numbered year, in even-numbered years if you were born in an even-numbered year (K.S.A. 40-4902). A newly licensed producer's first due date is not earlier than two years after initial licensure. Courses must be completed during the two-year period they count toward, so there is no carryover from one period to the next. This guide does not quote a dollar figure for continuing education courses; compare approved providers as your due date approaches.

Renewal itself is $4 every two years (K.S.A. 40-4903(b)(3)), and you may renew up to 90 days before the due date. Failing to report your continuing education by the due date means an automatic 90-day suspension and a $100 penalty per license (K.S.A. 40-4903(e)(2)). Reinstatement after a lapse is a $100 fee per license, and the steps around it grow with the length of the lapse. Within the 90-day suspension window you also pay the $4 renewal fee and complete the 18 hours. After the 90 days and up to the end of the first year, the same fees and hours apply plus a fresh application, though the Department says "you will not be required to complete the entire initial licensing process." Past the first year and up to four years you reapply in full, with fresh fingerprints, and pay the $10 application fee (2026) and the $60 background-check fee again on top of the $100 and the 18 hours. A new exam is required only when a license has expired for four or more consecutive years, in Kansas and everywhere else the individual is licensed (K.S.A. 40-4903(e)(6)).

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

$0, the free stack. Pearson publishes the Kansas content outlines, with the scored-item count of every section, and its Kansas Insurance Licensing Candidate Handbook explains the format, fees, scoring and scheduling rules. Together they tell you what is tested, not how the material works or how Kansas law applies to it.

$14.99 to $79, a focused exam-prep course. LanePrep's Kansas Life and Health course is nine audio chapters built from Pearson's own content outline, 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.

Four realistic budgets for an individual resident applicant. Each total counts the exam, application and background-check fees; fingerprinting is free at the Department's Topeka office and Department for Children and Families locations, and the optional $20 Pearson charge is not included.

Pass the combined exam on the first attempt: $134 plus preparation

• Exam fee $64
• Application fee $10 (2026)
• Criminal background-check fee $60
• Preparation: free stack ($0), one month of LanePrep ($14.99), or the one-time option ($79)

Fail once, pass on the second attempt: $198 plus preparation

• Exam fees $64 per attempt, so $128 across two attempts
• Application fee $10 and background-check fee $60, each paid once
• Preparation: as above, with a re-drill of the questions you missed

One line only, Life or Accident & Health: $127 plus preparation

• Exam fee $57 for the single-line exam
• Application fee $10 (2026) and background-check fee $60
• Why you might: you need only one line, and the exam is shorter (84 scored items, 90 minutes)

Both single-line exams instead of the combined one: $184 plus preparation

• Life $57 plus Accident & Health $57 in exam fees, versus $64 for the combined exam
• Application fee $10 (2026) and background-check fee $60, each paid once
• Why you might: two 90-minute sittings instead of one 150-minute sitting

A retake adds the exam fee again, $64 for the combined exam, with no application fee or background-check fee repeated. If you take the two single-line exams, each is its own $57 fee for every attempt.

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

1. Prepare from a course built for this exam's outline specifically, whichever of the exam options you plan to take.
2. Schedule and pass the exam through Pearson VUE at a test center.
3. Apply to the Kansas Department of Insurance while your passing result is still valid (it counts for two years from the exam date), pay the $10 application fee (2026) and the $60 background-check fee, and be fingerprinted.

LanePrep covers step 1: nine audio chapters built from the Kansas content outline, each with its own quiz, for $14.99 per month or $79 once. Chapters 1 and 9 are free. For the exam itself, the outline, and a study plan, read how to pass the Kansas Life and Health exam on the first try.

Fees come from Pearson's Kansas Insurance Licensing Candidate Handbook and content outlines, the Kansas Department of Insurance's producer licensing and fingerprint pages, the Kansas Register's 2026 fee notice, K.S.A. 40-4902, 40-4903 and 40-4905, and K.A.R. 40-7-13. Read October 2026.