- DE-LH refers to the Delaware Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam, regulated by the Delaware Department of Insurance.
- Candidates actually sit two separate exams - Life and Accident and Health - each with a general and a state portion.
- Scheduling both major-line exams the same day costs a single $90 fee at Pearson VUE.
- The official handbook lists 182 scored and 39 pretest questions across both exams, though the content-outline PDF suggests a smaller pretest count per exam.
What Is DE-LH?
DE-LH stands for the Delaware Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam, the state licensing test that anyone who wants to sell life insurance, annuities, accident insurance, or health insurance in Delaware must pass. It is not a private certification or designation - it is a regulatory requirement enforced by the Delaware Department of Insurance and delivered through Pearson VUE testing centers.
If you've seen the same three letters attached to a different credential elsewhere, that's a coincidence of naming. On this site, DE-LH always refers to the Delaware producer exam path described in the state's official candidate handbook and content outline. For a broader breakdown of naming and terminology, see DE-LH Meaning and What Does DE-LH Stand For?
How the Two-Exam Structure Works
Because Delaware treats Life and Accident and Health as distinct major lines, candidates pursuing both authorities sit for two exams. Each exam is built the same way: a general knowledge portion covering national insurance concepts, and a state portion covering Delaware-specific statutes, regulations, and bulletins.
- Each major-line exam runs 2 hours 15 minutes, so completing both in one sitting takes 4 hours 30 minutes total.
- Scheduling both exams on the same day at Pearson VUE costs a single $90 fee, rather than paying for each separately on different days.
- Both the Life exam and the Accident and Health exam are offered in Spanish at Pearson VUE testing centers.
- No specific prelicensing education program is required by Delaware before sitting for either exam.
According to the current handbook, the two exams combine for 221 multiple-choice items - 182 scored and 39 unscored pretest questions. Interestingly, the separate content-outline PDF references only five general pretest questions per exam, which would put the pretest total closer to ten rather than 39. The two official documents don't fully agree on this number, so treat every question on screen as if it counts and don't try to guess which ones are pretest items.
| Component | Life Exam | Accident and Health Exam |
|---|---|---|
| Time allotted | 2 hours 15 minutes | 2 hours 15 minutes |
| Portions | General + Delaware State | General + Delaware State |
| Language options | English, Spanish | English, Spanish |
| Same-day combined fee | $90 for both exams scheduled together | |
For a deeper walkthrough of exam-day logistics and testing windows, see DE-LH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
What's Actually Tested: The 17 Domains
The Delaware content outline organizes both exams into 17 domains - a mix of general insurance knowledge and Delaware-specific law, split across the two major lines. Domain weighting is calculated by normalizing the official scored-item counts across the full two-exam path, so a domain's percentage reflects its share of all 182 scored questions, not just one exam.
Domain 1-4: Life General Knowledge
Covers policy types, provisions/riders/options/exclusions, application and underwriting mechanics, and retirement or other insurance concepts.
- Know how riders modify a base life policy and when exclusions apply
- Understand underwriting classifications and delivery requirements
Domain 5-8: Delaware Specific Life
Covers statutes and bulletins that apply across life, accident and health, and property and casualty lines; rules common to life and health; rules unique to life insurance; and Insurance Ethics.
- Distinguish rules that apply to all lines from rules unique to life products
- Insurance Ethics is tested here as its own domain, not folded into general knowledge
Domain 9-13: Accident and Health General Knowledge
Covers policy types, provisions/clauses/riders, social insurance programs, other insurance concepts, and field underwriting procedures for health products.
- Field underwriting procedures cover what a producer must do at the point of sale
- Social insurance content touches programs candidates must recognize by name and function
Domain 14-17: Delaware Specific Accident and Health
Mirrors the life-side structure: statutes common to all lines, rules shared by life and health, rules unique to health insurance, and a dedicated Insurance Ethics domain.
- Health-only statutes and bulletins get their own domain - don't assume life-side rules transfer directly
- Ethics appears as a standalone domain on both the life and health sides
Key Takeaway
Insurance Ethics is not a minor afterthought. The January 15, 2025 content outline places 24 of the 182 scored questions in Ethics domains, making it one of the heaviest-weighted subject areas across the entire two-exam path.
For a full breakdown of every domain with subtopic-level detail, review DE-LH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 17 Content Areas. If you're still deciding how tough this content is compared to other state exams, How Hard Is the DE-LH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 walks through what makes the Delaware-specific portions distinct.
Eligibility and Application Mechanics
Delaware keeps the entry bar procedural rather than academic. There's no mandated prelicensing course hours requirement - candidates are free to study on their own, through a course provider, or with a resource like a structured practice test bank. What Delaware does require is documentation and payment:
- Pass the relevant exam(s) - Life, Accident and Health, or both
- Submit a Delaware State Police criminal background report
- Pay the $125 producer application fee to the Delaware Department of Insurance
Because there's no fixed education mandate, the exam itself becomes the real gatekeeper. That makes exam-day readiness - not classroom attendance - the deciding factor in whether you get licensed on schedule. See DE-LH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify for the complete eligibility checklist, and DE-LH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown for how the exam fee, application fee, and background check add up.
Scoring, Portions, and Retake Rules
Each major-line exam is graded as two separate portions: general and state. If you pass one portion but fail the other, Delaware doesn't make you retake the portion you already passed.
This portion-based structure rewards candidates who prepare unevenly on purpose - for example, someone confident in general life concepts but shaky on Delaware statutes can focus retake energy narrowly. For the exact numeric target you need to clear each portion, see DE-LH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass, and for a data-grounded look at how candidates perform overall, check DE-LH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
Who Uses This License
Passing the Delaware Life exam, the Accident and Health exam, or both, is the credential that lets someone legally solicit and sell those products as a resident producer in Delaware. In practice, that license is the entry point for:
- Independent agents representing multiple life and health carriers
- Captive agents tied to a single insurer's life or health product lines
- Health producers who also sell long-term care riders or standalone LTC policies
- Financial services professionals who need life and annuity authority alongside other licenses
Because Delaware requires 3 Delaware long-term-care hours specifically for producers who sell LTC products, agents building a health-focused book should plan for that add-on early rather than scrambling near renewal. For a broader look at where this license leads and what producers actually earn, see DE-LH Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis, DE-LH Jobs, and Is the DE-LH Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.
Renewal and Continuing Education
Getting licensed is only the starting line. Delaware resident producer licenses renew on a fixed biennial schedule rather than an anniversary date:
- Renewal falls on the last day of February in even-numbered years
- Producers must complete 24 CE credits per biennium
- Of those 24 credits, 3 must be ethics credits
- Health producers who sell long-term care insurance need at least 3 Delaware-specific long-term-care CE hours within that same biennium
Key Takeaway
The even-year, end-of-February renewal date applies regardless of when during the cycle you originally got licensed - mark it early so CE completion doesn't become a last-quarter scramble.
Building a Study Plan Around the Domains
Because the exam splits cleanly into general knowledge and Delaware-specific law for each major line, an efficient plan treats those as two different study skills: learning national insurance concepts once, then layering Delaware's statutes and bulletins on top.
Life General Knowledge (Domains 1-4)
- Master policy types, riders, and exclusions before touching state law
- Work through underwriting and application scenarios
Delaware Specific Life (Domains 5-8)
- Study statutes shared across all lines, then life-only rules
- Give Insurance Ethics dedicated review time given its 24-question weight
Accident and Health General Knowledge (Domains 9-13)
- Focus on field underwriting procedures and policy provisions
- Review social insurance programs by name and eligibility rules
Delaware Specific Accident and Health (Domains 14-17) + Full Review
- Compare health-only statutes against the life-only rules from Week 2
- Run full-length timed practice covering both general and state portions
Because each exam has separate general and state portions that are scored - and retaken - independently, practicing under timed, portion-style conditions matters more here than in a single combined test. For a structured week-by-week plan with more detail, see DE-LH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and for quick pre-exam review, use DE-LH Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts. You can also run through full-length practice questions modeled on the actual domain breakdown before booking your Pearson VUE appointment.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's two separate exams - a Life exam and an Accident and Health exam - each with its own general and Delaware state portion. "DE-LH" refers to the overall producer exam path covering both lines.
No. Delaware does not require a specific prelicensing education program. You must still pass the exam, submit a Delaware State Police background report, and pay the $125 application fee.
The current handbook lists 221 total multiple-choice items across both exams - 182 scored and 39 pretest - though the separate content-outline PDF references only five general pretest questions per exam, so the two official documents don't fully agree on the pretest count.
You only retake the portion you failed, but you must pass the remaining portion within one year of your first attempt, or you'll need to retake both portions.
Resident licenses renew biennially by the last day of February in even-numbered years, requiring 24 CE credits including 3 ethics credits; long-term-care health producers also need 3 Delaware LTC-specific hours within the biennium.