For new-to-Medicare and experienced agents, this guide will tell you what you need to know to get certified and ready to sell every year. You can manage all of your carrier contracts directly in the Spark platform. Click below to view details.
All Agents
Key resources for both new and experienced agents.
2026 AHIP
🗣️ Note: You must take AHIP every year. AHIP certifications come out in June annually. Submitting the 2026 AHIP and completing 2026 carrier certifications will allow you to sell 2025 plans.
Take your Certifications
View our guide to completing certifications for each carrier.
Contracting with Spark
Select your carriers
If you need help selecting new carriers, please visit our Data Studio to see the most popular carriers. We recommend that you represent at least 3 major plans to start, and add additional ones as you grow your business.
Get contracted
View our guide to completing contracts for each carrier.
Understand your Contract Status
You can view your contract status for each carrier directly in the Spark platform. In some cases your carrier will be pending. Please use this guide to understand what your status means.
Status look stale in your platform? Follow these steps to verify your ready-to-sell status:
Releases & Important Deadlines
You can obtain a release by requesting one from your current upline. If you don’t know who your top-of-hierarchy is, call the carrier directly (if the release is not signed by your current top-of-hierarchy, it can cause delays in processing the transfer and may be denied until the correct release is obtained). The fastest way to transfer your contracts is with an immediate release from your current upline. Otherwise, you may be subject to waiting periods or carrier blackouts. We recommend starting the transfer process immediately and afterwards requesting the release.
If you currently have your contract under another top-of-hierarchy and want to transfer it to Spark before this year’s AEP, you must transfer it before the deadlines below. If you delay, you will not be able to move until Jan 1, 2026. Just request the contract on the Spark Platform to initiate the transfer process.
Aetna: 7/3
Anthem: 6/30
Cigna: 7/15
Devoted: 8/14
Humana: 7/10
Scan: 9/15
Wellcare: 8/7
United Healthcare: 5/31
Carrier Contact Information
A comprehensive Medicare carrier contact hub that provides essential details such as support emails, phone numbers, the products each carrier supports, and basic commission information. It also lists the carriers available for contracting under Spark, offering a convenient all-in-one reference for quick access to key Medicare carrier information.
New-to-Medicare Agents
For agents who need to take the pre-licensing course, state license exam, purchase E&O insurance, and take AHIP for their first time.
View our detailed step-by-step guide:
Pre-Licensing Course Discounts
Pre-Licensing Course Discounts
Xcel solutions:
Go to: www.xcelsolutions.com
Select “Enroll Now” under Standard Life and Health
Total cost: $79
Apply discount code "SPARK"
Note: We formally worked with Exam FX, but the code is not currently working. We are working with Exam FX to get the code working again.
Purchasing E&O
Purchasing E&O
Note for agents: The required E&O for Medicare is $1m per claim // $1m aggregate.
Note for agencies: If you have an agency, you can typically use the agency’s E&O for yourself as the Principal (in addition to the agency), and for your downline agents if they are employees and assigning commissions to you. If you have street agents, those street agents typically need to purchase their own E&O. Before purchasing agency E&O, ask your personal E&O carrier if you can add your agency name to the certificate of insurance rather than purchasing an agency policy. If they allow it, it may save you several thousand dollars. If they don’t allow it, you can purchase agency E&O with the link here.
Experienced Agents
For agents who need to add state licenses, set up their agency or take continuing education course.
Track Existing Licenses
You can export your Producer Report from NIPR following the instructions here:
This will enable you to view all your licenses, their expiration dates, and your company appointments. You are able to download a free report one time per year.
Add New licenses
Add licenses directly on NIPR. If you are adding more than 5+ state licenses, we recommend working with a service to manage your new and renewing licenses. Spark works with Supportive Insurance Services and has negotiated a 10% discount for anyone referred by Spark. Email our contact [email protected] and note Spark to get started.
We strongly recommend working with Supportive Insurance Services if you are an agency adding a non-resident appointment in New York, Florida, and/or California. When adding the New York license, make sure you are adding the Agent (LA) license and NOT the Broker (LB) license. You need the LA license to sell Medicare. Details here.
Set Up Your Agency
I'm an individual agent and I want to create an agency.
I'm an individual agent and I want to create an agency.
Business is good, and it's time to bring on additional agents! You want to make sure that you get credit for the agents you bring in. In order to do that, you need to create an agency. Here are the general steps to doing that: [First, a disclaimer: this is not legal advice, just a rough guideline of what you should do. Consult a lawyer in advance!]
You must create a business entity, such as an LLC, and register it with the state. See LegalZoom and Stripe Atlas to get started.
You must get the agency licensed in the state(s) in which you will be doing business. You'll want to sign into NIPR as a business entity. Go here.
First, you'll need a resident license. That's the home state where your business entity (e.g. LLC) is based out of. Submit the application and fees associated with the resident license. Note the approval time will vary by state. As the licensed agent, you will be the agency "principal".
If you want to add non-resident states, see the section below.
Tell your upline that you've added an agency, and you want to get the agency appointed with the carriers they support. For example, if you write as an individual agent for UnitedHealthcare under Spark, and then add an agency, let Spark know and we'll get your agency appointed.
Lastly, you'll receive an agency writing number, and for most carriers, a separate login for your agency so you can see your downline production.
For a more detailed guide, please see:
I'm an agency expanding into a new state.
I'm an agency expanding into a new state.
Great! Since you've already created a business entity AND you've licensed your agency in your resident state, the steps to expand into a new state are relatively quick.
View our walkthrough or continue reading below:
Here's how to get started:
With the exception of California and New York, you can add a non-resident license in less than a month. In a few cases you'll be asked to provide additional documents detailing ownership of the agency and your DBA name.
If you have full-time w2 employees working in the new state and/or are adding a physical office presence, you should register your business entity with the state as a "foreign business". To register, navigate to the State's Business Registration website. You can find it by searching "[state name] + [register foreign business entity]" on Google.
Note many states do not precisely define what constitutes "transacting business" within a state, which would require you to register the business. For example, having a downline 10-99 "contractor" living in another state may not constitute "transacting business." Speak with a lawyer or play it safe and register your business anyway.
Note if you add a w2 employee you'll have to register for withholding tax specifically.
Let your upline know that you've licensed your agency in a new state so you can get appointed for that state with the carrier.
Note for some carriers, such as UnitedHealthcare and Anthem, you may have to pay an appointment fee.
Selling Additional Products
If you plan to sell annuities or certain forms of life insurance, you may need to take an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) training or annuity training.
Anti-Money Laundering Training (LIMRA)
Anti-Money Laundering Training (LIMRA)
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