AHIP 2027 certification opened June 22, 2026. Here is exactly what happens between now and when you're cleared to sell 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D plans.
Quick answer: AHIP 2027 certification opened June 22, 2026: 5 training modules (6–8 hrs total), then a 50-question, closed-book final exam with a 2-hour time limit (it auto-submits at the 2-hour mark) requiring a 90% score. AHIP publishes no fixed attempt cap, though some carriers set their own cutoff for repeated failures. After you pass, you still need each carrier's own product certification before you can sell.
Every year, AHIP releases a new certification course covering the upcoming plan year — the 2027 course opened June 22, 2026. It runs on America's Health Insurance Plans' training platform and is the certification most Medicare Advantage and Part D carriers require (or accept) before they'll let an agent sell their plans.
You work through a set of training modules — typically five — covering Medicare basics, Medicare Advantage & Part D structure, eligibility and enrollment periods, marketing and compliance rules, and Fraud, Waste & Abuse (FWA). Most agents spend 6 to 8 hours total. Each module includes Review Questions you can submit an unlimited number of times, with feedback and sources on every answer — AHIP's own FAQ frames these as your study tool, so drill them repeatedly rather than assuming the final exam repeats them verbatim.
Once the modules are done, you unlock the final exam: 50 questions randomly selected from all 5 modules, a 2-hour time limit (it auto-submits automatically at that mark — the only auto-submit in the process), and you need a 90% score to pass. It's closed-book — AHIP's FAQ states plainly that “the AHIP Medicare Final Exam is not an open book exam.” AHIP doesn't publish a fixed attempt limit; the real ceiling on repeated fails comes from carriers, some of which set their own contracting cutoff.
Passing AHIP does not automatically let you sell every plan. Each carrier still requires its own product certification — usually a shorter course confirming you know their specific plans, service areas, and materials. Budget time for this after AHIP, not instead of it.
“Ready to sell” means AHIP/NABIP and every carrier's product certification and your contracting/appointment with that carrier are all complete. There's no single universal deadline enforced by AHIP itself — each carrier sets its own, almost always well before AEP opens on October 15, 2026. See our AEP 2026 guide for the full season timeline.
The Medicare Mastery Lab 2027 packs 700 original practice questions with full rationales, 240 source-linked flashcards, and an offline practice app into one drillable study system — built for a closed-book final exam where retention, not lookup speed, is what gets you through.
Get the Medicare Mastery Lab →AHIP, every carrier’s product cert, your state license, and E&O renewal — the Medicare Agent Certification Tracker keeps every status and deadline in one spreadsheet so nothing lapses before AEP.
Get the Certification Tracker →The dates, penalties, IRMAA brackets, and compliance rules agents reference all season — one page, 2026-current. Get it free, plus occasional tools that save you time.
AHIP 2027 certification opened on June 22, 2026.
Most agents spend 6–8 hours on the training modules, plus up to 2 hours for the final exam — roughly a full workday spread across a few sessions.
Yes. Passing AHIP (or NABIP) is one requirement. You also need each carrier's own product certification, an active state health insurance license, and current E&O insurance before you can sell that carrier's plans.
The exam format (50 questions, 2 hours, 90% to pass, closed-book) has been consistent across recent certification years; only the plan-year content updates annually. AHIP does not publish a fixed number of attempts — some carriers set their own cutoff for agents who fail repeatedly.
Figures on this page are cross-checked against primary and industry-primary sources: