- The MA A&H is the Massachusetts Division of Insurance's Accident and Health, or Sickness Insurance producer exam.
- It costs $37 and has 80 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest questions, delivered at Pearson test centers.
- You need a scaled score of 70 to pass, and the current outline takes effect July 22, 2026.
- Types of Policies is the biggest single domain at 20%, while Massachusetts-specific law makes up 37.5% combined.
What Is a MA A&H?
MA A&H stands for the Massachusetts Accident and Health, or Sickness Insurance Producer Exam - the state licensing test that insurance professionals in Massachusetts must pass before they can sell, solicit, or negotiate accident and health insurance products. It is not a voluntary certification you add to a resume for prestige; it's a mandatory regulatory exam administered on behalf of the Massachusetts Division of Insurance. If you want to legally represent an insurer selling disability income, medical expense, long-term care, or similar health-related coverage in Massachusetts, this is the exam that stands between you and that authority.
Because the acronym "A&H" gets reused across the insurance and benefits world, it's worth being precise here: this article is exclusively about the Massachusetts producer licensing exam, not any national designation or credentialing program that happens to share a similar name. Every fact below comes directly from the Massachusetts exam content outline and Pearson's administration of it.
Who Administers the Exam
The Massachusetts Division of Insurance sets licensing requirements and owns the content outline, but the actual test delivery is handled by Pearson Professional Assessments. Pearson runs the testing centers, proctors the exam, and reports your scaled score back to the state. This matters practically: you register through Pearson's system, you schedule your seat at a physical Pearson test center, and you sit for the exam in person - Massachusetts DOI licensing exams are not offered as remote or online-proctored tests.
If you're used to other professional exams that allow at-home testing, this is one of the first adjustments to make. Plan travel time to a test center, bring acceptable ID, and expect the same check-in procedures used for other Pearson VUE-style licensing exams.
Exam Format and Registration
The mechanics of the exam are straightforward once you know the numbers:
- Cost: $37 per attempt
- Question count: 80 scored multiple-choice questions
- Pretest questions: 10 additional unscored questions mixed in (you won't know which ones don't count)
- Passing score: a scaled score of 70
- Delivery: in person only, at a Pearson test center
- Current outline effective date: July 22, 2026
Because 10 unscored pretest items are blended invisibly into the 80 scored questions, you should treat every question on screen as if it counts. There's no way to identify which ones are experimental, so pacing and focus need to stay consistent from question one through the last.
For a full breakdown of what that $37 fee does and doesn't cover - and what other costs to budget for around the exam - see the MA A&H Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. And if you want the passing score explained in more depth, including how scaled scoring differs from a raw percentage, the MA A&H Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass guide walks through it.
Key Takeaway
Score 70 or above on the scaled score, not a raw percentage - and remember 10 of your 90 total questions won't count toward that score, so treat all of them as if they do.
The 7 Exam Domains
The content outline effective July 22, 2026 organizes the exam into seven domains. Understanding their relative weight is the single most useful thing you can do before you start studying, because it tells you exactly where your time should go.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1. Types of Policies | 20% |
| 2. Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders | 18.75% |
| 3. Social Insurance | 7.5% |
| 4. Other Insurance Concepts | 6.25% |
| 5. Field Underwriting Procedures | 10% |
| 6. Massachusetts Laws and Rules Pertinent to All Lines of Insurance | 18.75% |
| 7. Massachusetts Laws and Regulations Pertinent to Accident, Health or Sickness Insurance Only | 18.75% |
Two things jump out immediately. First, Types of Policies is the single largest domain at 20%, so weak knowledge here has an outsized effect on your score. Second, when you add Domains 6 and 7 together, Massachusetts-specific law accounts for 37.5% of the entire exam - more than a third of everything tested. That's a huge signal: generic accident and health product knowledge alone will not get you across the finish line. You need to know Massachusetts's own rules cold.
Domain 1: Types of Policies (20%)
This domain covers the structure and purpose of the various accident and health products a producer might sell.
- Disability income insurance and how benefit periods and elimination periods work
- Medical expense insurance, including individual and group structures
- Long-term care insurance features and limitations
- Dental, vision, and other limited-scope health products
Domain 2: Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders (18.75%)
Nearly as heavily weighted as Domain 1, this section tests your grasp of the contractual language inside a policy.
- Standard provisions like grace periods, reinstatement, and claims procedures
- Optional riders and how they modify base coverage
- Exclusions and limitations language
Domains 6 & 7: Massachusetts Law (18.75% each, 37.5% combined)
These two domains together form the largest share of the exam. Domain 6 covers rules that apply across all insurance lines in Massachusetts - licensing conduct, unfair trade practices, and general DOI authority. Domain 7 narrows in on rules specific to accident, health, or sickness insurance in the state.
- Producer licensing and appointment rules under Massachusetts statute
- Unfair claims settlement and trade practice prohibitions
- Massachusetts-specific mandates and consumer protections unique to health coverage
The remaining domains - Social Insurance (7.5%), Other Insurance Concepts (6.25%), and Field Underwriting Procedures (10%) - are smaller individually but still appear regularly enough that skipping them is risky. Social Insurance typically touches on programs like Medicare and Social Security disability benefits and how they interact with private coverage. Field Underwriting Procedures covers the producer's role in the application process: what information must be collected, disclosed, and verified before a policy is issued.
For a domain-by-domain study breakdown with more granular topic lists, see MA A&H Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 7 Content Areas.
Who Actually Needs This License
The MA A&H license is required for anyone acting as a producer for accident and health insurance products in Massachusetts. In practice, that includes:
- Independent insurance agents selling individual health, disability, or supplemental products
- Captive agents working for a single carrier's health insurance line
- Benefits brokers who advise employers on group health and ancillary coverage
- Insurance agency staff who quote, bind, or negotiate accident and health policies on behalf of a licensed agency
Carriers, agencies, and brokerages hiring for these roles typically require an active Massachusetts producer license with the accident and health line of authority before a new hire can touch client-facing sales work. If you're evaluating whether this path fits your career plans, or want to understand what roles actually use this license day to day, MA A&H Jobs covers the employment side, and Is the MA A&H Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 weighs the licensing effort against the career upside.
Before you can even sit for the exam, Massachusetts has eligibility steps to satisfy - pre-licensing education, background requirements, and application steps through the state's system. The MA A&H Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify guide walks through exactly what you need to have in place first.
Building a Study Plan Around the Domains
Because the exam's weighting is so lopsided toward a handful of domains, your prep schedule should mirror that weighting rather than treating all seven domains equally. A candidate who spends equal time on Domain 4 (6.25%) and Domain 1 (20%) is misallocating effort.
Types of Policies & Policy Provisions
- Build a product comparison chart for disability income, medical expense, and long-term care policies
- Drill common riders and exclusion language until definitions are automatic
Massachusetts Law (Domains 6 & 7)
- Read through Massachusetts DOI producer conduct rules and unfair trade practice statutes
- Isolate what's specific to accident/health versus general lines
Underwriting, Social Insurance & Other Concepts
- Review field underwriting steps in application order
- Study how Medicare and Social Security disability interact with private coverage
Full-Length Review & Timed Practice
- Run full 80-question practice sessions under timed, in-person-style conditions
- Revisit any domain scoring below your target on practice sets
This isn't a rigid formula - some candidates with insurance backgrounds can compress this into two weeks, while others need six. The point is proportionality: spend your heaviest hours where the exam spends its heaviest weight. For a more detailed, day-by-day study methodology built specifically around this outline, see the MA A&H Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. If you're unsure how much total effort this exam actually demands compared to other licensing tests, How Hard Is the MA A&H Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 breaks that down, and MA A&H Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows looks at outcome data.
What Happens After You Pass
Passing with a scaled score of 70 or higher is the academic hurdle, but it isn't the final step toward being able to sell. After Pearson reports your passing result to the Massachusetts Division of Insurance, you'll typically need to complete your license application (if you haven't already), and any appointment paperwork required by the carrier or agency you'll represent. Keep your test results and any confirmation documentation from Pearson, since you may be asked to reference them during the licensing follow-up.
It's also worth building a habit of checking the Division of Insurance's exam outline periodically. Content outlines get revised - this one takes effect July 22, 2026 - and domain weights or topics can shift between versions. If you delay your test date, verify you're studying the outline version that will actually be in effect when you sit for the exam. Scheduling logistics, blackout periods, and how far in advance to book your Pearson seat are covered in MA A&H Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
For a fast reference once you're deep into review mode, the MA A&H Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts condenses the domain weights, passing score, and key definitions into a single page you can run through the night before your test.
Key Takeaway
Passing the exam is one step in a licensing sequence - confirm your application and appointment paperwork are complete before assuming you're cleared to sell.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The MA A&H is a state producer licensing exam administered by Pearson on behalf of the Massachusetts Division of Insurance. It is specific to selling accident and health insurance in Massachusetts, not a portable national credential.
There are 80 scored multiple-choice questions plus 10 unscored pretest questions, for 90 total. You need a scaled score of 70 to pass, and you won't know which questions were the unscored pretest items.
No. All Massachusetts DOI licensing exams, including the MA A&H, are delivered in person at Pearson Professional Assessments test centers.
Types of Policies at 20% is the single largest domain, but Massachusetts Laws and Rules (Domains 6 and 7) combine for 37.5% of the exam, making state-specific law the single biggest content area overall.
The exam fee is $37 per attempt, paid through the Pearson registration process. For a breakdown of related licensing costs beyond the exam fee, see the MA A&H certification cost guide.