Allstate Releases Massive McKinsey Report

Allstate has released approximately 150,000 pages of documents pertaining to a review of its claim practices conducted in the 1990s — referred to as the McKinsey documents — in order to dispel what it says are inaccurate portrayals of its business practices.

The documents, which are available at Allstate’s web site, have been the subject of a book written by David Berardinelli called From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves. In it, Berardinelli discusses how consulting firm McKinsey and Co. allegedly reengineered Allstate’s claim-management system — referred to as Claim Core Process Redesign — in order to unfairly maximize profits. It has been speculated that these techniques involved offering low initial settlements followed by a tougher, hardball approach if the settlement was not quickly agreed to by the policyholder.