Stunning cruelty

Here's a head-shaker for you. A San Diego travel insurance firm, CSA Travel Protection, won't cover the cost of an eight-day trip to Europe that a man with terminal cancer was forced to postpone because of illness. CSA refused to compensate the man, Stephen Moser, because he had not seen a doctor to confirm that he had been sick. The man's sister, Margaret, along with David Segal (aka the NYT's The Haggler - appealed to CSA executives and the Texas Department of Insurance, but got turned down at every step. The company's CEO, Les Maine, said, "CSA and insurance companies cannot pay a claim simply because they feel sorry for an individual" (if you go to the Web site, you'll see a headline reading, "Travel With Confidence. Travel With Us"). The sister said they didn't see a doctor because Stephen had the same ailment before and they knew that nothing could be done about it. They also had no idea that by failing to see a doctor, they were forfeiting $7,000 - and no partial refund or credit.

Nobody disputes that Mr. Moser was, and remains, seriously sick. (As he approaches his 52nd birthday, his health is declining rapidly and he has moved into his mother's house because he can no longer live independently.) To focus on the narrow question of whether Mr. Moser saw a doctor in person ignores every other salient fact about his condition, not to mention the many visits he'd made to his doctor before his trip was to begin.

[CUT]

Eventually, there ensued a conversation and an e-mail exchange with Bob Chambers, CSA's director of operations. He went back over CSA's policy and added that it would be unfair to other customers if the company were to pay the Mosers' claim. Unfair to those who had seen a doctor, in similar circumstances, and unfair to those whose claims were denied for the same reason as the Mosers'. There is a cold, clear logic to this argument that is both totally irrefutable and deeply unjust. You get the impression that CSA is more interested in minutiae than the basic question of whether Mr. Moser was really sick -- which is the point of the minutiae, after all.

Segal asked three business school ethics professors about CSA's conduct, and two of them found nothing wrong with the company's position. A third said the decision was "legal but blatantly unethical." A column like this will surely set off those who are convinced that all business people are scum, lumping CSA with AIG, Goldman Sachs, Countrywide and Bernie Madoff. But generalizations are both unfair and off the mark. I imagine that another travel insurance firm, one with a higher standard of morality (not to mention a greater PR awareness) would have figured out a way to cut this guy a check, or at the least provide some sort of credit. Even in the prissy world of contracts, there are ways of doing the right thing, whether or not it's spelled out in the fine print.

Oh, and did I mention that Stephen didn't have health insurance? The only reason he could afford the trip - and his medical treatment - was a benefit concert that Margaret put together in Austin. They raised $38,000.

Anyway, please remember the name: CSA Travel Protection. Jot it down or make a copy of the Times article and stash it away in your travel folder. Tell your friends. CSA Travel Protection.