Mark Romano, whistleblower from ALLSTATE tells how some insurance companies rig the system
Former Allstate executive turned whistleblower, was in charge of a computer program called "Colossus" that calculates money people are paid in claims. He "tuned" the program to increase profits, which he says was unfair to customers. Mark Romano gripped the steering wheel and tried to keep his car from swerving into another commuter on the busy Illinois tollway. Stress? It was December 2007, and Romano was a senior manager at Allstate and its top expert in Colossus, a program that calculates how much a person might be paid for an injury claim. He was in charge of two projects to “tune” and “recalibrate” Colossus, work he knew could affect payments to thousands of people. Colossus was part of a quiet revolution in the insurance industry. Before the early 1990s, insurance was a decidedly human endeavor, especially when it came to setting rates and paying claims. To set premiums, insurers relied on computations from their actuaries — mathematical wizards armed with ...