Symetra Names Christine Carlson Vice President, Stop Loss Claims

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 16, 2025--

Symetra Life Insurance Company, a stop loss pioneer and industry leader, today announced the appointment of Christine Carlson as vice president, Stop Loss Claims.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250116711083/en/

Ms. Carlson brings to her new role more than 18 years of leadership experience in managing high-performing teams and driving operational excellence within claims operations, including deep expertise in stop loss, organ transplant claims, cost containment, and quality audits.

Ms. Carlson joins Symetra from Tokio Marine HCC, where, as senior vice president, Claims Operations & Innovation, she managed a $2 billion portfolio. She previously held senior claims positions at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

“We are delighted to welcome Christine as our new VP of stop loss claims,” said Jeremy Freestone, senior vice president, Stop Loss Business Strategy. “Our stop loss unit is a critical component of the solutions-driven product suite we offer employers looking to effectively manage their healthcare costs. Christine’s extensive claims management experience, her passion for optimizing processes, leading cost containment initiatives, driving innovation, and building strong partnerships will be invaluable assets as we continue to deliver on our reputation for superior claims experience.”

Ms. Carlson earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Wisconsin.

Symetra has been a stop loss provider for nearly 50 years. Medical stop-loss insurance protects companies that self-fund their health insurance plans against large or catastrophic claims. Employers with stop-loss insurance are reimbursed for individual employees’ medical costs above a certain pre-determined dollar amount. Stop-loss insurance also protects against unexpectedly large amounts of total medical claims. In such a case, the coverage kicks in once a certain amount has been paid by a client toward all of its employee medical bills.

About Symetra

Symetra Life Insurance Company is a subsidiary of Symetra Financial Corporation, a diversified financial services company based in Bellevue, Washington. In business since 1957, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent financial professionals and insurance producers. For more information, visit www.symetra.com.

Christine Carlson has joined Symetra as vice president, Stop Loss Claims. (Photo: Business Wire)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A former Polish justice minister who faces prosecution in his homeland over alleged abuse of power said Monday that he has been granted asylum in Hungary.

Zbigniew Ziobro was a key figure in the government led by the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party that ran Poland between 2015 and 2023. That administration established political control over key judicial institutions by stacking higher courts with friendly judges and punishing its critics with disciplinary action or assignments to far-away locations.

Current Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government came to power more than two years ago with ambitions to roll back the changes, but efforts to undo them have been blocked by two successive presidents aligned with the national right.

In October, prosecutors requested the lifting of Ziobro's parliamentary immunity to press charges against him. They allege among other things that Ziobro misused a fund for victims of violence, including for the purchase of Israeli Pegasus surveillance software.

Tusk’s party says Law and Justice used Pegasus to spy illegally on political opponents while in power. Ziobro says he acted lawfully.

Hungary, led by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has hosted several politicians close to Law and Justice while Polish authorities were seeking them.

In a lengthy post on X Monday, Ziobro wrote that he had “decided to accept the asylum granted to me by the government of Hungary due to the political persecution in Poland.”

“I have decided to remain abroad until genuine guarantees of the rule of law are restored in Poland,” he said. “I believe that instead of acquiescing to being silenced and subjected to a torrent of lies — which I would have no opportunity to refute — I can do more by fighting the mounting lawlessness in Poland.”

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Monday that Hungarian authorities have granted asylum to “several” individuals who would face political persecution in Poland, according to his ministry. He declined to specify their names.

In an English-language post on X, Tusk wrote that “the former Minister of Justice(!), Mr. Ziobro, who was the mastermind of the political corruption system, has asked the government of Victor Orbán for political asylum.”

“A logical choice,” he added.

FILE - The leader of the Polish junior coalition partners Zbigniew Ziobro, speaks to reporters alongside in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file)