- What Is the MD L&A/H Certification?
- Who Issues and Administers the Exam
- Who Needs This License
- Exam Format and Registration Mechanics
- The 16 Content Domains
- What Changed on October 1, 2024
- After You Pass: Continuing Education
- How Candidates Actually Prepare
- Is the MD L&A/H Certification Worth Pursuing?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- MD L&A/H is the Maryland Insurance Administration's Series 20-30 Life and Accident and Health or Sickness Producer Combo exam.
- The exam has 130 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest items, a 2 hour 30 minute limit, and a 70% passing score.
- The exam fee is $62, and Prometric administers it at test centers or via ProProctor remote proctoring.
- Insurance Regulation is the heaviest domain at 30% of the exam - study it first and most.
What Is the MD L&A/H Certification?
The MD L&A/H certification - formally the Maryland Life and Accident and Health or Sickness Producer Combo Exam, coded by Prometric as Series 20-30 - is the state licensing exam that authorizes an individual to sell, solicit, or negotiate both life insurance and accident and health or sickness insurance products in Maryland. It is not a voluntary professional designation you add to a resume for prestige; it is the mandatory gatekeeper exam administered on behalf of the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA), and passing it is a legal prerequisite to holding a resident producer license in these two lines of authority simultaneously.
Because the exam combines two lines of authority into one sitting, it covers a wide span of material - general insurance regulation, life insurance products and provisions, annuities, qualified retirement plans, and the full range of health insurance topics from disability income to Medicare-related coverage for seniors. If you want the full breakdown of every content area before you commit to a study plan, the MD L&A/H Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 16 Content Areas walks through each one in depth.
Who Issues and Administers the Exam
Two organizations matter here, and candidates sometimes confuse their roles:
- Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA): The state regulatory body that sets licensing law, defines the content outline, and ultimately issues the producer license once you pass the exam and complete the application process.
- Prometric: The third-party testing vendor that builds, schedules, and delivers the actual Series 20-30 exam, either at a physical test center or through its ProProctor remote-proctoring platform.
Understanding this split matters for logistics: licensing questions (fees, application status, renewal) go through MIA, while scheduling, rescheduling, and technical exam-day issues go through Prometric. If you want a clear rundown of every fee involved - exam fee, potential retake costs, and licensing-related expenses - see the MD L&A/H Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Who Needs This License
The combo exam is most attractive to candidates who plan to sell across both life and health product lines rather than specializing in just one. In practice, this includes:
- Independent insurance agents who want to offer term life, whole life, and health/disability products under one license instead of taking two separate exams.
- Career agents with carriers that sell bundled life and health portfolios, including supplemental health, disability income, and senior-market products.
- Financial services professionals who cross-sell annuities and qualified plan products alongside health coverage for individual and small-group clients.
- New entrants to insurance sales who want maximum flexibility in the Maryland market without sitting for a second licensing exam later.
If you're weighing whether this dual license actually improves your earning potential compared to a single line of authority, the MD L&A/H Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and MD L&A/H Jobs pages are useful next reads.
Exam Format and Registration Mechanics
The Series 20-30 exam has a fixed, predictable structure, which makes it easier to plan around than exams with variable-length formats:
- 130 scored multiple-choice questions, plus 10 additional unscored pretest items mixed in (you won't know which are which, so treat every question as if it counts).
- 2 hours and 30 minutes total time limit.
- 70% passing score required.
- $62 exam fee, paid at registration through Prometric.
- Delivery options: in-person at a Prometric test center, or remotely through ProProctor.
- Immediate results - you learn your pass/fail status right after finishing.
- Four-day waiting period before you may retake a failed attempt.
Since results are immediate, there's no ambiguity to sit with - either you register the next attempt after the four-day wait, or you move on to license activation. For a section-by-section look at exactly what 70% requires in terms of correct answers out of 130 scored items, read the MD L&A/H Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass breakdown.
Key Takeaway
Because only 130 of the 140 total questions count toward your score, pacing matters more than perfection on any single item. Budget roughly one minute per question and flag anything uncertain rather than freezing on it.
Before you can register, you'll also want to confirm you meet Maryland's baseline eligibility criteria - age, residency status, and background disclosure requirements are covered in detail in the MD L&A/H Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify guide. And if you're mapping out when to schedule relative to work or other commitments, the MD L&A/H Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling article explains how Prometric's year-round scheduling actually works in practice.
The 16 Content Domains
The Series 20-30 outline is organized into 16 domains, weighted very unevenly. A handful of domains carry most of the point value, and knowing which ones deserve the bulk of your attention is the single biggest lever you have over your score.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Insurance Regulation | 30% |
| General Insurance | 5% |
| Life Insurance Basics | 9% |
| Life Insurance Policies | 5% |
| Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options and Riders | 8% |
| Annuities | 5% |
| Federal Tax Considerations for Life Insurance and Annuities | 4% |
| Qualified Plans | 2% |
| Health Insurance Basics | 7% |
| Individual Health Insurance Policy General Provisions | 2% |
| Disability Income and Related Insurance | 5% |
| Medical Plans | 8% |
| Group Health Insurance | 2% |
| Dental Insurance | 1% |
| Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals | 5% |
| Federal Tax Considerations for Health Insurance | 2% |
Domain 1: Insurance Regulation (30%)
This is by far the largest domain and covers Maryland-specific producer licensing rules, unfair trade practices, appointment and termination procedures, and MIA enforcement authority. It touches nearly a third of your total score, so gaps here are the most expensive gaps you can have.
- Producer licensing categories and continuation requirements
- Unfair claims settlement and trade practices under Maryland law
- Penalties, suspensions, and MIA disciplinary authority
Domain 3: Life Insurance Basics (9%)
The second-largest single domain, focused on the mechanics of life insurance contracts - insurable interest, underwriting classifications, premium structures, and the fundamental differences between term and permanent products.
- Insurable interest and beneficiary designations
- Underwriting factors and rating classifications
- Premium payment modes and lapse mechanics
Domains 5 and 12: Provisions/Riders and Medical Plans (8% each)
These two domains tie for the third-largest weight. Provisions, Options and Riders tests your knowledge of nonforfeiture options, settlement options, and common life riders. Medical Plans tests managed care structures, HMO/PPO distinctions, and major medical policy features.
- Nonforfeiture and settlement options on life contracts
- Common riders: waiver of premium, accidental death, guaranteed insurability
- Managed care models and cost-sharing mechanics in medical plans
Notice how much of the exam sits outside pure life or pure health content - federal tax treatment, qualified plans, and senior/special-needs coverage all show up because this is a combo license. For a domain-by-domain study sequence and sample question patterns for each of the 16 areas, the MD L&A/H Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 16 Content Areas is the deeper companion to this section.
What Changed on October 1, 2024
One of the more significant recent shifts in Maryland's licensing process: as of October 1, 2024, candidates are no longer required to complete a Commissioner-approved prelicensing program before sitting for the producer examination. Previously, this coursework was a mandatory gate before exam registration. Now, candidates can move directly to scheduling their exam through Prometric once they meet the other eligibility criteria.
This regulatory change is also part of why difficulty perception varies so widely among candidates - some approach the exam with a formal course background, others go in relying entirely on independent study and practice questions. If you're trying to gauge how challenging the exam actually is given your own background, How Hard Is the MD L&A/H Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 addresses this directly, and MD L&A/H Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows looks at what outcome data is actually available.
After You Pass: Continuing Education
Passing the exam and getting licensed isn't the finish line - Maryland resident producers holding this license generally must complete 24 continuing education hours per biennium, including 3 hours specifically in ethics. This CE cycle keeps license holders current on regulatory changes and reinforces the same domains tested on Series 20-30, particularly Insurance Regulation and any updates to health insurance provisions.
Budgeting for CE early - rather than scrambling near your renewal deadline - is worth building into your post-licensing routine from day one.
How Candidates Actually Prepare
Given the domain weighting, an effective study sequence front-loads Insurance Regulation and Life Insurance Basics, then works through the remaining domains roughly in order of point value. A short, exam-specific timeline looks like this:
Insurance Regulation + General Insurance
- Master Maryland-specific producer rules, since this domain alone is 30% of the exam
- Cover general insurance concepts (5%) as a lighter secondary block
Life Insurance Cluster
- Life Insurance Basics (9%), Life Insurance Policies (5%), and Provisions/Options/Riders (8%) together account for 22% of the exam
- Drill nonforfeiture options and rider definitions with practice questions
Annuities, Tax, and Qualified Plans
- Annuities (5%), Federal Tax Considerations for Life Insurance and Annuities (4%), and Qualified Plans (2%)
- These smaller domains are easy to under-review - don't skip them entirely
Health Domains + Full Review
- Health Insurance Basics (7%), Medical Plans (8%), Disability Income (5%), Senior/Special Needs (5%), and the remaining smaller health domains
- Finish with full-length timed practice runs at ../ to simulate the 2 hour 30 minute limit
Notice that generic scheduling advice only goes so far here - the sequence above is dictated entirely by domain weighting, not by a one-size-fits-all study calendar. For a more complete step-by-step preparation strategy, including how to interleave practice questions with content review, see the MD L&A/H Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. And for a fast pre-exam refresher covering the highest-yield facts across all 16 domains, bookmark the MD L&A/H Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts.
Key Takeaway
Run full-length, timed practice exams at the main practice test platform before test day - pacing under the 2 hour 30 minute clock is a skill you build through repetition, not something you can reason out on the fly.
Is the MD L&A/H Certification Worth Pursuing?
For anyone planning to build a book of business that spans both life and health products, holding a single combo license is generally more efficient than pursuing two separate lines of authority through separate exams. The $62 fee and roughly 2.5-hour time commitment are modest relative to the flexibility it unlocks in the Maryland market. That said, the right answer depends on your specific career path - a full cost-versus-benefit analysis is laid out in Is the MD L&A/H Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.
If you're still deciding whether to prepare through self-study or a structured course now that the prelicensing requirement is gone, start by reviewing the exam domains, then run a handful of practice questions at our practice test site to get a feel for the question style before committing to a full study plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
It stands for the Maryland Life and Accident and Health or Sickness Producer Combo Exam, Prometric Series 20-30, administered on behalf of the Maryland Insurance Administration. See What Does MD L&A/H Stand For? for a full breakdown of the naming.
No. Effective October 1, 2024, Maryland removed the requirement to complete a Commissioner-approved prelicensing program before sitting for the producer examination.
There are 130 scored multiple-choice questions plus 10 unscored pretest items, for 140 total questions, within a 2-hour-30-minute time limit. You need 70% correct on the scored items to pass.
Yes. Prometric offers both in-person testing at a physical test center and remote testing through its ProProctor platform, and either option delivers your results immediately after you finish.
You must wait four days before retaking the exam. Because results are delivered immediately, you'll know right away whether you need to schedule a retake.