Minimum Education

• Although state licensing requirements do not require a health insurance salesperson to obtain an undergraduate degree, a health insurance firm typically does look for at least a bachelor's degree. Some schools, including Drake University and Indiana State University, offer undergraduate programs in insurance and risk management. Other bachelor degree programs optimal for students interested in selling health insurance include business, economics or finance.
  
  

Areas of Study

• If your college doesn't offer a specific degree path for health insurance sales agents, you can help fill out your general business education with courses related to insurance work. In addition to math, economics and marketing courses, prospective health insurance agents can study psychology or public speaking to learn important skills for relating to customers and attracting them to your product. Computer science courses are also useful, as software is being used increasingly to calculate risks, log orders and perform other work throughout the health insurance industry.
  
  

State Requirements

• States often require you to obtain state licensing before you can legally work as a health insurance sales agent; the number of required hours varies from state to state. In New York, for example, a health insurance sales agent must complete at least 40 hours of state-certified professional education before applying to take the licensing exam. In Indiana, health insurance agents must complete 24 hours of education, all of which can be self-study. If an insurance agent wants to sell both life and health insurance in Indiana, he must complete a total of 40 hours of education.
  
  

Continuing Education

• Many health insurance employers require their sales agents to complete a certain number of continuing education requirements while working in order to keep abreast of developments in insurance law, new insurance products and other significant industry changes. Health insurance firms often send their sales agents to a specific professional education vendor, such as the Center for Insurance Education and Professional Development, an agency of the organization America's Health Insurance Plans. You also can find continuing education opportunities for insurance seminars and classes through local colleges and universities or organizations specific to the health insurance industry.