AHIP Certification 2027: Cost, Discounts, Exam, and Login
AHIP certification for plan year 2027: what it is, the $175 price and $125 discount links, the 50-question exam, how long it takes, login, and FFM.
AHIP certification is the annual Medicare and Fraud, Waste, and Abuse training and exam that America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) runs for Medicare Advantage and Part D agents. Many carriers accept it as their general Medicare training. The standard price in AHIP's FAQ is $175, and a carrier or FMO discount link can bring 2027 training to $125.
The 2027 course has been open on the AHIP Medicare training portal since June 22, 2026, per PSM Brokerage. AEP opens October 15, 2026, and carriers set their own certification deadlines ahead of it. Passing AHIP settles one item. Each carrier still decides whether you are ready to sell its plans.
AHIP certification 2027 at a glance
| Question | Plan year 2027 answer |
|---|---|
| Who runs it | AHIP. Each carrier decides whether it accepts AHIP for its training requirement |
| What it covers | Five Medicare modules, plus Nondiscrimination, Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, and General Compliance |
| Price | $175 standard; discount links from carriers and FMOs, such as $125 through PSM Brokerage or $50 off through Alignment Health |
| Final exam | 50 questions, 90% to pass, two-hour limit, not open book |
| Attempts | Shown in your enrollment; AHIP's FAQ does not state a number |
| Time to complete | No AHIP estimate; the exam alone can take two hours in one sitting |
| Renewal | Every plan year. A 2026 completion does not count for 2027 |
| Proof that counts | Your score transmitted to each carrier and confirmed in its records |
The exam figures come from AHIP's FAQ, which is undated. Read the instructions in your enrolled course before testing.
Do you need AHIP to sell Medicare?
CMS's 2027 training guidelines require annual training and testing on Medicare rules and the products agents sell. Medicare plans and the organizations selling on their behalf are responsible for meeting that requirement. CMS does not prescribe AHIP as the course every agent must take.
Carrier instructions determine your accepted path. UnitedHealthcare's 2027 program, for example, includes its Standard training, AHIP and NABIP transfer paths, and a Fast Track for eligible agents. AHIP's own FAQ says most AHIP member organizations and partners accept only AHIP's Medicare and Fraud, Waste, and Abuse training for their requirement, and tells agents to confirm with their plan administrator. Completing one carrier's own course does not establish that another carrier will accept it.
If you intend to represent several carriers, list them before buying training. Check their accepted courses, any separate product modules, and completion deadlines. Your FMO or upline can help obtain those instructions; the carrier confirms whether you have met them.
Medicare Supplement products have their own carrier requirements. Check those directly rather than assuming that an MA or Part D certification answers the Medigap training question.
AHIP certification cost and discounts
AHIP's FAQ uses $175 as its standard price reference and tells agents whose carrier rate differs to ask that health plan how to apply it. The AHIP login page directs agents to their plan administrator for enrollment discounts. AHIP's user guide shows an optional promo code field before checkout.
Two published 2027 offers show how that works:
- PSM Brokerage advertises 2027 access at $125 for agents who register through it.
- Alignment Health advertises a $50 discount on 2027 AHIP training through its broker page.
Each is a specific organization's offer, not a price every agent automatically receives. Follow the supplied enrollment route and check the displayed amount before submitting payment. If the amount looks wrong, ask the offer provider how its rate applies to your account before paying or opening the course. Do not assume you can buy at the higher price and claim the difference later.
A lower price is useful only if the course meets your needs. Use these checks to compare an offer:
| Check | What to establish |
|---|---|
| Course | It is the Medicare training and plan year your carriers accept |
| Access | Which carrier or FMO link to use, and whether affiliation is required |
| Amount due | The actual checkout total, including any optional items |
| Reimbursement | Who pays you back, on what conditions, and when |
| Exam attempts | The limit in your enrollment and any stricter carrier acceptance rule |
Buy the right plan year
AHIP's FAQ says a registration is no longer refundable once any course material has been accessed or more than 90 calendar days after purchase, and the same policy applies if you bought the previous year's training by mistake. Refund requests go to AHIP support in writing. Check that the course you are paying for is the 2027 training before you open it.
Evaluating a "free AHIP" offer
When an offer says training is free, establish whether someone pays at enrollment or reimburses you afterward. Those arrangements have different effects on your budget.
For a reimbursement offer, obtain the written terms and record:
- The amount covered and eligible plan year.
- Any contracting, certification, or production requirement.
- The deadline to meet the requirement and submit the claim.
- The evidence required, such as a receipt or completion record.
- The payment date and any repayment or forfeiture conditions.
Treat reimbursement as conditional until you have met the terms. If accepting an offer also means changing uplines or signing a new agreement, review the FMO's contract and release policy. A training discount should not be the only reason for that decision.
Continuing education credit costs extra
AHIP's FAQ says the training qualifies for CE credit in most states, with additional fees, and that you must apply for CE before taking the final exam. If your state requires a monitoring affidavit, you retake the exam in the presence of a monitor to receive the credit. AHIP asks you to allow 7 to 14 business days for CE processing. Decide whether you want state CE before opening the final exam.
Budgeting for a team
Build the budget from the accepted course and actual rate for each producer. Track payments separately from expected reimbursements so the agency knows what cash it must provide.
For illustration, ten enrollments at a confirmed $125 each total $1,250. Ten at $175 total $1,750, a difference of $500. This example excludes optional CE charges, any checkout taxes, and conditional reimbursements. Replace its inputs with your team's quotes before using it as a budget.
Save each receipt with the producer's name, course, plan year, and reimbursement deadline. If an agent also needs FFM registration, budget it separately: CMS provides Marketplace training without a course fee.
What the AHIP course covers
AHIP's published curriculum covers Medicare fee-for-service eligibility and benefits, Medicare Advantage and Part D plan types, marketing and enrollment rules, nondiscrimination, and how to identify and report fraud, waste, and abuse, along with general compliance. The FAQ describes five Medicare modules in addition to the Nondiscrimination, Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, and General Compliance training. The course is available in English and Spanish.
These subjects connect. Knowing a plan's benefits is not enough to determine when someone can enroll or how an agent may discuss it. The CMS guidelines describe the scope of annual Medicare training, including Medicare basics, coverage options, enrollment periods, beneficiary protections, and marketing conduct. Your assigned course supplies the lessons and assessments.
A module is marked complete when you have viewed every slide and answered its final review questions. If AHIP emails you about an updated guideline, its FAQ says to go back and review it even in a module you already finished.
The AHIP exam
AHIP's FAQ describes a final exam of 50 questions drawn at random from all five Medicare modules. You need 90% to pass, and the exam is not open book. It submits automatically at the two-hour mark. Closing the window or navigating to another tab or window instead removes the attempt, loses your answers, and requires a restart. Do not open other tabs on the AHIP site while testing.
AHIP's 2025 user guide describes separate tests at the end of the Nondiscrimination, Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, and General Compliance training, each with a 70% passing score and unlimited attempts. Confirm the current rules in your 2027 enrollment.
The FAQ does not state how many final exam attempts an enrollment includes. PSM Brokerage describes the exam as traditionally including three. Check the allowance shown in your enrollment. Course access and carrier acceptance are separate questions: permission to take another test does not itself prove that a carrier will accept the result. If you are nearing a limit, ask the carrier about its acceptance rule before buying more access.
AHIP does not release which final exam questions you missed. If you need a testing accommodation, send the request and supporting documentation to AHIP support in writing before you start.
A study routine that exposes gaps
The module review questions include feedback and sources, allow unlimited submissions, and do not count toward the final exam. PDF downloads of every module are available. Downloadable material is a study aid; it is not permission to use notes during the exam.
Read a section, complete its review questions, and work through the explanation for any answer you missed or guessed. Write the governing rule in your own words, then identify the detail that changed the answer. A date, coverage type, or beneficiary circumstance can matter more than the phrase you initially recognized.
A short study log helps. This is a suggested learning tool, not an AHIP requirement:
| Record | What to write |
|---|---|
| Topic | The enrollment period, plan feature, or marketing rule you need to revisit |
| Misunderstanding | What you assumed and why it was incomplete |
| Correct reasoning | The rule and the facts that determine when it applies |
| Reference | The relevant course section or official source |
| Recheck | Whether you can explain the answer later without looking it up |
As an illustrative self-check, explain how the fall Annual Enrollment Period differs from the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: who can use each, what changes it permits, and when coverage begins. Check your answer against Medicare.gov's enrollment-period table. Then change one fact, so the person has Original Medicare rather than Medicare Advantage, and explain which parts of your answer change. This is not an AHIP exam question; it tests whether you understand a rule's scope.
If an attempt is unsuccessful, return to the subjects you cannot yet explain before testing again. If a technical problem interrupted it, ask AHIP support to clarify the attempt status before proceeding.
How long AHIP certification takes
AHIP does not publish a completion estimate. The fixed part is the final exam: up to two hours, taken in one continuous sitting. PSM Brokerage estimates 6 to 10 hours for a new agent to complete AHIP, and says experienced agents often finish faster. Treat that as one brokerage's estimate, not an AHIP figure.
The AHIP course is rarely the whole job. Leave separate time for each carrier's product modules, for sending your score, and for fixing a login problem or a missing transmission. If you buy CE credit, allow AHIP's 7 to 14 business days for processing. Work backward from your first planned marketing activity and each carrier's deadline; October 15 opens AEP but is not a universal carrier certification deadline. The AEP calendar separates the public dates from the deadlines you need to obtain from carriers.
AHIP login and sending your score
Sign in at the AHIP Medicare training portal with your National Producer Number (NPN) or account email address as the username. First-time users choose Create a New Account. If you already have an account, use the recovery links rather than creating a second one.
After you pass, download your certificate from Medicare Course Home → My Certifications → AHIP Medicare Certification and transmit your score from the portal to each carrier that requires it. Then confirm receipt in the carrier's own records. SummaCare's 2027 instructions, for example, require electronic transmission rather than a certificate PDF.
For account recovery, duplicate accounts, a missing completion, or a carrier that has not received your score, use the AHIP login guide. It lists AHIP's support contacts and the next action for each problem.
What each requirement establishes
AHIP covers the general Medicare training. Use this table to check the records for the rest. Ask the carrier which tasks you can complete in parallel and which depend on an earlier approval.
| Requirement | What to confirm | Evidence to keep |
|---|---|---|
| State insurance license | Active status and the appropriate authority in each selling state | State license record, including lines of authority |
| Carrier-accepted Medicare training | The course and plan year satisfy the carrier's requirement | Completion record and confirmation the carrier received it |
| Carrier product certification | Required modules and assessments are complete for the products you will sell | Carrier certification status for that plan year |
| Contracting | The carrier has accepted the required agreements and documents | Carrier's contracting confirmation |
| Appointment | The carrier has handled appointment requirements under the applicable state rules | Appointment status and any carrier instructions about filing timing |
| Ready-to-sell status | The carrier authorizes you for the intended products and states | Current carrier confirmation, checked against your intended sales work |
Aetna's broker instructions illustrate why the distinctions matter. Its readiness requirements include certification, contracting, licensing, and appointments under state law. In certain states, Aetna orders appointments after the first sale. That filing timing does not allow an agent to bypass the carrier's authorization.
For the wider licensing and contracting process, use the guide to becoming a Medicare agent. State requirements belong with the relevant state, such as Texas or New York.
AHIP vs FFM vs carrier certification
None of the three substitutes for another. AHIP Medicare training does not complete CMS's Marketplace registration, and FFM completion does not satisfy a carrier's Medicare training requirement.
| AHIP Medicare training | FFM registration | Carrier certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program | Medicare Advantage and Part D | Individual ACA Marketplace on HealthCare.gov | The carrier's own products and rules |
| Who sets it | AHIP; each carrier decides whether to accept it | CMS | Each carrier |
| Cost | $175 standard, with carrier and FMO discount links | Free | Set by the carrier |
| Renewal | Every plan year | Every plan year | Every plan year |
| Proof that counts | Score transmitted to and confirmed by the carrier | Your NPN on the CMS Registration Completion List | The carrier's ready-to-sell status |
The FFM certification guide covers the 2027 Marketplace training, its dates, and its steps. If you sell both, the Medicare work comes first on the calendar: AEP opens October 15, and Marketplace Open Enrollment for 2027 coverage opens November 1. Keep the two programs' completion records and calendars separate.
Keep the 2027 records straight
Record the plan year on every completion. A result from an earlier cycle does not establish that this year's requirements are satisfied.
For an agency, keep the remaining action beside each incomplete item: the course still required, the carrier awaiting a result, or the contact investigating a mismatch. A single "AHIP complete" field cannot explain why one carrier has cleared a producer and another has not. InsureTrek tracks each producer's licenses and appointments and shows ready-to-sell status from carrier reports, so that difference is visible by carrier. The Medicare onboarding guide covers the agency review.