Allstate's "Good Hands" get greased with taxpayer money

Allstate Insurance has been the most aggressive insurer in the country, with respect to placing profits ahead of benefit payment, since it adopted its "good hands or boxing gloves" approach to claims management.  It has pushed the entire insurance industry toward heavy marketing to secure premium dollars, coupled with "tort reform" and truculent management of claims in order to minimize payouts.  It has also been a leader in resisting government inspection or regulation of insurance reserves.

Much of that anti-consumer effort has been documented earlier on this site.  Today, Allstate's arrogant treatment of insureds and consumers was rewarded by the award of several billion dollars of taxpayer "bailout" money ("up to 3 percent of its net worth") by the federal government.  Other insurers to receive the handout include Prudential Financial, Hartford Financial, Lincoln National, Ameriprise and Principal Financial.

Next time you see Allstate's handsome actor-spokesman on TV, keep in mind that the clever pious marketing stance presented by the Company and its celebration of old-fashioned values is nothing more than a superficial public relations campaign for a brutal, self-possessed multi-national corporation that is not above grabbing taxpayer cash to reimburse the money it has gambled away on financial derivatives and speculation.