Accident & Health Insurance Cheat Sheet.

Memorize the plan-type distinctions and benefit triggers first. Know that an HMO uses a primary care gatekeeper for referrals while a PPO permits out-of-network care at higher cost, that major medical plans apply a deductible, coinsurance, and an out-of-pocket maximum, that disability income pays after an elimination period, and that long-term care benefits trigger when the insured cannot perform a stated number of activities of daily living. These distinctions show up again and again in exam questions.

The classic traps hinge on one-word distinctions. Own-occupation versus any-occupation definitions of disability change whether a claim pays, primary versus contingent beneficiaries differ in who collects first, and revocable versus irrevocable beneficiaries differ in whether the owner needs consent to make a change. Read every question for these qualifier words before choosing an answer.

Three come up constantly. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, an insurer that orders a consumer or investigative report must notify the applicant of the nature of the information collected; the MIB is a nonprofit database of coded medical impressions shared among member insurers; and underwriters classify applicants as preferred, standard, or substandard, or decline them. Knowing exactly what each entity does keeps you from mixing them up under time pressure.

Use it for light review, not new learning. Skim each section, cover the definitions, and quiz yourself out loud on the ones you hesitate over — those are your morning-of review list. Then stop; a rested brain retrieves memorized rules far better than an exhausted one, and everything on the sheet should already be familiar by that point.

A cheat sheet alone is not enough — it compresses the must-know rules but cannot teach you to apply them to scenario questions, which make up much of the exam. Pair it with full topic review and plenty of practice questions, and use the sheet as your final-pass memory anchor. It is the last step of studying, not a substitute for it.