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Letter to the Editor
Monday April 7
Allstate Publicly Releases McKinsey Documents about Claims Practices
Allstate announced in the following press release that the insurer has publicly released approximately 150,000 pages of documents pertaining to a review of its claim practices conducted in the 1990s. Allstate was assisted in the review by business consulting firm McKinsey & Co.The documents relate to a complex body of work that as a whole demonstrates a careful, fact-based analysis to better enable the company to more promptly investigate and more consistently and effectively evaluate claims based upon their own merits.
Public criticisms by people with a vested interest in creating an inaccurate picture of the company's claim practices have been based unfairly on only snippets from the documents taken out of context.
We continue to believe that the documents deserve protection as containing trade secret and confidential proprietary information and that our actions to protect them from general disclosure have been appropriate. However, because of the need to address misunderstandings resulting from the growing misplaced focus by our critics on very small pieces of the whole, we have decided to make the documents public.
Some of the facts about Allstate's claims practices that have been overlooked in the debate over these documents include:
- As a regulated company, Allstate's claims practices are available to and regularly reviewed by state departments of insurance.
- Allstate resolved millions of homeowners and auto claims last year and continued to earn very high rates of policy renewal. The company regularly communicates with our customers and claimants about their claim and what they can expect from the process.
- Allstate is aggressive in fighting fraud to protect our customers and reduce the cost of insurance. The company employs a special investigative unit (SIU) that is specifically charged with identifying and combating fraud.
"We became the largest publicly held personal lines insurance company in the United States in no small part because we built a reputation of being there for our customers in their time of need by resolving claims fairly, accurately and in a timely manner," said Allstate spokesperson Rich Halberg. "The fact that we have added millions of new customers over the past 15 years speaks to the outstanding claim service we provide."
When aired in the unbiased setting of a court of law, allegations about the documents have been shown to be without merit. Most recently, some of the documents were seen and explained in context to a jury during a two-week trial in Kentucky (Hager v. Allstate). The jury unanimously ruled in Allstate's favor in deliberations that lasted less than two hours.
To view the documents, visit the Allstate media center.
The Allstate Corporation is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer.
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