Nevada Insurance Regulator to Retire

Longtime Nevada Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman has decided to retire effective Sept. 7, 2008, after a long regulatory career.

Molasky-Arman was named commissioner in 1995 and has served under three governors. She is the longest-serving insurance commissioner in state history. A replacement will be named following a national search.

During her tenure, Molasky-Arman took a leading role in the transformation of Nevada’s bankrupt industrial insurance system into a private mutual insurer known as Employers Insurance Co. of Nevada during the state’s transition to a competitive workers’ compensation environment. She eventually approved the reorganization of EICON to become a mutual holding company, and then a publicly traded stock company known as Employers Holdings Inc. by 2006.

Molasky-Arman also formed the Medical Liability Association of Nevada that helped doctors during a medical malpractice insurance crisis.

And she gained attention for programs to combat insurance fraud. She developed a statewide media campaign warning consumers about unlicensed insurers that was used as a model for a national “fake insurance” awareness campaign.

Her recent approval of the $2.6 billion acquisition of Las Vegas-based Sierra Health Services Inc. by Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. caused controversy, but Gov. Jim Gibbons’ spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said the deal wasn’t a factor in her retirement.

The acquisition was criticized by some lawmakers, the Nevada State Medical Association, nurses and others who noted UnitedHealth’s regulatory problems in California and New York.

“I am privileged to have worked with such a highly dedicated and capable staff at the Division,” Molasky-Arman said in announcing her retirement. “I am confident the Division will be left in good hands after my departure.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Topics Legislation Nevada