[StBernard] Bobby Jindal and the McKinsey Factor

[Westley Annis]

September 14, 2007

Baton Rouge:  Who knew?

Who knew when State Senator Walter Boasso (D-Arabi), Democratic candidate
for Governor, announced his plan to create a special class of criminal
penalties for insurance executives who deny, delay and harass home and
business owners out of a fair settlement on their claim that the evidence to
put these executives away would be tied up so neat and pretty in something
called the McKinsey Documents? 

Evidently, Bobby Jindal knew. Which is probably why he has started running
negative ads against Walter Boasso over insurance.

As it turns out, Bobby Jindal's only private sector employer, the McKinsey
Company, is responsible for creating the plan that resulted in an increase
in profits for Allstate Insurance Company from $82 million a year to well
over $2 billion a year.  Allstate even boasted these profits after the
devastating hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005.

How did McKinsey do this? The plan was simple. Stop paying claims.

In 1995, the same year that Bobby Jindal was serving as a Senior Consultant
for the consulting firm, McKinsey presented Allstate with a 12,000 slide
PowerPoint presentation detailing how the insurer could increase profits by
simply denying homeowners fair settlement on their claims. 

One slide in particular demonstrates how Allstate would go from offering the
"Good Hands" treatment to the "Boxing Gloves" treatment if claimants
demanded a fair settlement.

"The whole plan is right there in black and white," Boasso said. "It spells
out in detail how Allstate could make millions through the simple act of
committing fraud on the homeowner.

"To me, as a business person, it doesn't really take a genius to figure out
that you can make more money by cheating people," Boasso said. "But
apparently to Mr. Jindal, Jeffrey Skilling from Enron and the rest of the
McKinsey alums, this was a real feat. 

"But I'll tell you what it does take. It takes someone who doesn't care
about people. It takes someone who thinks it's ok to let people suffer if it
means bigger profits," Boasso said. "It takes someone without a heart." 

Boasso said that he intends to use the report, which is the basis for
multiple class action lawsuits throughout the country, including Louisiana,
to convict insurance executives and put them in prison.

"I have said that if we can prove that an insurance executive has
intentionally and in bad faith sought to deny, delay and harass home and
business owners out of their fair claim in order to boost profits then that
executive will find a new home in prison," Boasso said. "Who knew that the
evidence I needed to do just that would come directly from Bobby Jindal?" 

Evidently, Bobby Jindal did.

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