United States
Hong KongMoving from health into Medicare sales
Your General Lines license already covers Medicare products, but Texas gates them separately. Section 4004.252 bars you from selling one until you have done eight hours of professional training, section 4004.253 adds four hours of Medicare continuing education each licensing period, and every advertisement needs a government-disclaimer line.
Medicare is the most heavily conditioned thing your license lets you sell, and Texas conditions it in three separate places. None of them is a new license and all of them are enforceable.
The training gate
Section 4004.252 is a prohibition rather than a requirement, which is the right way to read it. Unless an agent has completed eight hours of professional training related to a Medicare-related product, the agent may not sell, solicit, negotiate or receive an application or contract for that product in Texas, and may not represent an insurer in relation to it.
Eight hours. So the training comes before the first conversation, not before the first sale. Soliciting is in the list, and a day of coursework is what stands between you and a whole product line.
| Requirement | Section | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Eight hours of professional training on Medicare-related products | 4004.252 | Before selling, soliciting or negotiating |
| Four hours of Medicare-specific continuing education | 4004.253 | During each two-year licensing period |
| Certified programs only | 4004.253(c) | Only department-certified training counts |
| Counts toward general CE | 4004.252(b) and 4004.253(d) | Both credit against the chapter 4004 requirement |
| Government disclaimer on advertisements | 541.084 | Every advertisement |
The fourth row is the good news and it is genuinely good. Both the initial training and the ongoing Medicare education count toward the 24 hours you already owe under section 4004.053, so the hours are not additional. In the period you do the training, that is twelve of the 24 arriving attached to a product line. Adding Medicare to your practice is one of the few expansions in this job that is free in time terms.
Seniority does not excuse you
Section 4004.052(b) exempts an individual who has continuously held an agent license for at least 20 years from the continuing education chapter. Section 4004.255 then says that exemption does not apply to the Medicare requirements. The legislature decided Medicare changes too fast for experience to substitute for currency.
That is an unusually pointed carve-out and it tells you how the state views this product line. An agent who has been licensed since the last century still has to do the Medicare education.
The advertising rule that catches everybody
Section 541.084 says a person may not use an advertisement for an insurance product relating to Medicare coverage unless the advertisement includes, in a prominent place, language stating that it is not connected with or endorsed by the United States government or the federal Medicare program.
Prominent place, on the advertisement. That includes the things agents do not think of as advertisements: a mailer, a seminar flyer, a social post about open enrollment. Chapter 541 is the unfair trade practices chapter, so a breach is not a technicality.
Section 541.052 sits alongside it and is wider: making, publishing or circulating an advertisement, announcement or statement containing an untrue, deceptive or misleading assertion about the business of insurance is an unfair method of competition. Medicare marketing is where that provision does most of its work.
What is on the exam, and what is not
The content outline covers Medicare parts A, B, C and D, Medicare supplement policies, Medicaid, and social security disability and survivor benefits, inside a general section on social insurance worth 6 of the 100 general questions. So you are examined on how the programs work.
You are not examined on how to sell them compliantly, which is what sections 4004.252 and 541.084 govern, and that is the gap this page exists to fill. Passing the exam tells you what Medicare Part C is. It does not tell you that you may not solicit it until you have done the training.
Why agents move here
Because it renews. Medicare business brings the same customer back every year at enrollment, which produces annual contact that a life policy does not, and annual contact is what turns a set of sales into a practice.
We are not going to tell you what it pays. We hold no earnings data for Texas insurance agents and publish none, including no commission figures for Medicare products. Ask your carrier for the compensation schedule and ask specifically about renewals and chargebacks. What we do not publish about agent earnings sets out the questions.
The opinion, and the limit
Do the Medicare training in your first year rather than your third. It costs hours you already owe under chapter 4004, it removes a prohibition rather than adding a qualification, and the alternative is turning away a lead because you had not got round to a course.
The concession is real and specific. Medicare is federally regulated as well as state regulated, and the federal marketing rules governing Medicare Advantage and Part D are more detailed than anything in the Texas Insurance Code. We hold the Texas statute and nothing federal, so this page describes one of the two regimes you will be working inside. Your carrier's compliance training covers the other, and you should take it seriously.
Common questions
Can you sell Medicare with a Texas life and health license?
Yes, once you have completed the training. Section 4004.252 bars an agent from selling, soliciting, negotiating or receiving an application for a Medicare-related product without eight hours of professional training related to it. The license itself already covers the product.
What Medicare training does Texas require?
Eight hours of professional training on Medicare-related products before you may sell or solicit them, under section 4004.252, and four hours of Medicare-specific continuing education during each two-year licensing period under section 4004.253. Only department-certified programs count, and both credit toward your 24-hour requirement.
Are experienced agents exempt from Medicare training?
No. Section 4004.052(b) exempts agents licensed continuously for at least 20 years from the continuing education chapter, but section 4004.255 says that exemption does not apply to the Medicare requirements. Seniority does not substitute for Medicare currency.
What has to go on a Medicare advertisement in Texas?
Section 541.084 requires a prominent statement that the advertisement is not connected with or endorsed by the United States government or the federal Medicare program. That applies to mailers, seminar flyers and social posts, not only to formal advertising.
Is Medicare on the Texas life and health exam?
Yes. Medicare parts A, B, C and D, Medicare supplement policies, Medicaid and social security benefits sit in the social insurance section, worth 6 of the 100 general questions. The compliance rules for selling Medicare are not examined there.