The American Association for Justice (AAJ) ranked Allstate the “worst insurer for customers” in a recent release naming its top 10 worst insurers. The AAJ claimed it found a “pattern of insurance industry greed” among the 10 companies and accused the insurers of using “hardball tactics” against policyholders, habitually denying or delaying claims payouts and “hoarding excessive profits.”
The AAJ contended Allstate’s so-called “deny, delay, defend strategy” when dealing with claims is what makes it the worst insurer on the list.
“While Allstate publicly touts its ‘good hands’ approach, it has instead privately instructed its agents to employ a ‘boxing gloves’ strategy against its policyholders,” AAJ CEO Jon Harber claimed. “Allstate ducks, bobs and weaves to avoid paying claims to increase its profits.”
However, Allstate spokesman Mike Siemienas brushed off the accusations.
"The personal injury lawyers behind this report provide no support for their statements other than decade-old, recycled allegations that have been shown to be without merit in courts of law," Siemienas said.
The AAJ said it used legal documents and financial filings to rank the companies. Rounding out the AAJ’s top 10 worst insurers were:
2. Unum
3. AIG
4. State Farm
5. Conseco
6. WellPoint
7. Farmers
8. United Health
9. Torchmark
10. Liberty Mutual
The AAJ also reported that over the past decade, the property/casualty and life/health insurance industries have each had annual profits exceeding $30 billion and that the industry as a whole has around $3.8 trillion in assets.
