Texas continuing education requirements

These figures come from the Insurance Code held for this project. They are not estimates from a course provider, and the Medicare hours apply because of the product sold rather than to every life and health agent.

The rule in one view

The general license is broad and the limited license is a short list

A general life, accident and health license is what an agent needs to write life, accident and health insurance for a life company, to write accident and health only, to represent a health maintenance organization, or to write fixed or variable annuity contracts and variable life. It is the license this examination leads to.

A limited life, accident and health license covers a narrow set: lump-sum accidental death or dismemberment benefits, ambulance expense benefits, prepaid legal services contracts, credit insurance, and anything else the commissioner determines requires one.

An applicant must pass a written examination prescribed by the commissioner, testing competence in the contracts applied for, in the laws regulating insurance, and in the ethical obligations and duties of an agent.

Some applicants are exempt from the examination, including a person renewing an unexpired license, a person whose license expired less than a year ago and was not denied, revoked or suspended, a partnership, corporation or depository institution, and a life, accident and health applicant holding the chartered life underwriter designation.

Renewal has two cliffs and continuing education gates both

An individual license expires on the license holder birthday every second year, matching the year of issue or renewal. An entity license expires on the second anniversary. A suspended or revoked license cannot be renewed at all.

Expired 90 days or less, you may still renew, paying the renewal fee plus half again. Expired more than 90 days but less than a year, renewal is gone but the examination is not: file a new application and pay the license fee plus half. Expired a year or more and the person starts over.

The hours are 24 for a general life, accident and health license during the license period, and holding more than one license that requires continuing education does not multiply it. A limited license carries five hours annually instead. Three hours must be ethics each renewal period, and at least half of all hours must be classroom or approved classroom equivalent.

Failing to complete the hours costs the license. The department may not renew where the holder has not completed the requirement by the 90th day after the last day of the licensing period, and completing the education after expiry is not a defense in a disciplinary action.

What to check before answering

Continuing education belongs to renewal, not to the first examination application. Texas does not require a prelicensing course for this license. A first-time candidate may choose preparation for its study value, but the statutory education obligation applies to maintaining the issued license. Keep optional exam preparation separate from the mandatory renewal record. The agent should also distinguish completing education from documenting it. Current TDI procedures govern approved courses, provider reporting and the records needed at renewal. Completion alone does not answer a question about proof or filing.

How the distinction appears in a question

Keep the general requirement and the Medicare-product requirement in separate columns. The ethics hours sit inside the general total. The Medicare training provisions attach to agents who sell Medicare-related products and should not be added to every candidate’s licensing checklist.

A practical way to study it

For study purposes, reduce texas continuing education requirements to the decision the examiner is testing. Write the trigger on one side of a card and the consequence on the other. Then change one fact in the scenario and decide whether the answer changes. That method is slower than rereading once and much faster than relearning the distinction after a practice test.

The cleanest note is “24 includes 3; Medicare adds 8 before and 4 continuing when applicable.” That preserves every relationship the distractors try to break.

Where the summary stops

The Code supplies these hour requirements, but course approval, reporting and renewal administration also involve current TDI rules and procedures. Licensees should use TDI’s current instructions when completing a renewal.