2025 Update for Alignment Health Plans in California

We've done the heavy lifting in our Comparing Alignment Advantage plans or Alignment's most popular plans in California but hit the highlights for 2024.

There are new plans and benefits across the spectrum plus the updated Star Rating for Alignment.

We'll touch on what to pay attention to by category to make this easy.

As for our credentials:

Let's get started along these lines:

• 2024 Alignment health plan updates
• What is Star Rating for Alignment health in California for 2024
• Most popular 2024 plans from Alignment in California
• 2024 Network updates for Alignment Advantage
• The Cash Back plan from Alignment
• How to quote 2024 Alignment rates and apply

Let's get started!

2024 Alignment health plan updates

Alignment continues to be the up and coming darling among Advantage plan carriers in California and you can see them continue their trend upwards among giants:

First, Advantage plans continue to gobble up the market and no wonder with the inflation targets:

Alignment is clearly attracting a large share of this growth considering its size:

Read more about Alignment's growth here

44% growth in one year in membership is pretty ridiculous. Almost 50% in a very crowded marketplace against Fortune 100 companies (think Kaiser, Humana, United, Aetna, the Blues, etc).

Okay...that's all great from a top-level perspective but what about to the average senior on the ground?

It's probably best if we walk through the 2024 Alignment offering and updates in a way that a consumer can actually get some benefit.

Here's a lay of the land for Los Angeles but we'll touch base on other California areas below:

Let's start with the Star Rating in 2024.

What is Star Rating for Alignment health in California for 2024

As you run your quotes below, you'll notice that the vast majority of plans from Alignment in 2024 have a 4 Star Rating.

This is 4 out of 5 and it's consistently in the top 10% of plans in a given area.

The Star Rating is very important to someone new to Alignment (or any Advantage plan for that matter) since it reflects how EXISTING members feel about their plan and their interaction with the carrier on a day-to-day basis.

It's 1/3rd of our Triple Threat selection criteria:

It's like our Google review above and you really can't make a decision without it!

4 out of 5 Stars is excellent. The average trends around 3 stars and 5 stars are rare. From our experience over the years, the difference between 4 and 5 stars is slight.

The difference between 4 and 3 stars is significant. Literally satisfied versus mehhh.

The only plan from Alignment in California that doesn't hit the 4-star benchmark is their PPO offering and we'll discuss that below in the network updates for 2024.

Their HMO plans (the vast majority in California) generally have the 4 Star rating and you can check this when you run your quote in your area.

So...since 4 Star is pretty standard in 2024 for Alignment, which plans are attracting the most attention?

Most popular 2024 plans from Alignment in California

The plans that are most popular differ depending on the area.

In Los Angeles, it's generally the following:

• Platinum+ Instacart
• MyChoice
• SmartHMO

Big review of the Instacart plans but essentially, grocery DELIVERY if you qualify with chronic health issue.

MyChoice is their lead offering with a $198 max out of pocket (generally the best on the market)

SmartHMO is their Cash Back for Part B plan with almost $2K annually towards Part B.

Up North, the networks really come into play:

• Alignment Health Sutter Advantage
• MyChoice

It's right in the name...Sutter! Big review on Alignment Health Sutter plan which...drum roll please...includes Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

Then MyChoice, their lead plan.

When you run your quote below, make sure to select "Show Special Needs Plans" if you qualify for:

• D-SNPs - medi-cal and medicare or additional help (LIS)
• C-SNPs - chronic illness

Of course, there's zero cost for our assistance and we can walk through the options with you!

help@calhealth.net or schedule a chat here: https://calendly.com/dennis-jnw

There are many other plans and we go through them in our Alignment Advantage plan Comparison and Review for more detail.

Let's look at one big reason in 2024 that Alignment is growing over 40% in membership.

2024 Network updates for Alignment Advantage

This is really Alignment's key to success. The doctor groups they've been able to sign up!

In fact, "What Advantage plan will work with X doctor" is how most of our conversations start up.

Advantage plans have become somewhat commoditized in a given market...meaning they can be very comparable within a certain "type" of plan (Cash Back, medi-medi, etc).

Similar monthly premium, deductibles, and out-of-pocket max's.

The networks really drive the decision (along with Star Rating).

The partnering with Sutter up north is a huge example of this especially with Palo Alto Medical Foundation being a key player in the Bay Area that many people demand access to.

Sutter's reach stretches all the way over to Sacramento and South from there. They're a dominant provider and in many areas, THE rival to Kaiser.

The fact that Sutter partnered with Alignment speaks to its up-and-coming status since they can partner with ANY carrier.

Alignment seeing this opportunity to offer a plan built around Sutter speaks to their understanding of the California market.

Win-win...for the members that want Sutter.

As for down south, the same holds true.

Most of their Advantage plans in 2024 work with huge medical groups that many people want:

• Optum (amazing considering the relationship they have with UnitedHealthcare®- see UnitedHealthcare®Advantage comparison)
• Regal
• Heritage

And many many more from the Valley down to Riverside and south from there.

We'll show you how to check your specific doctors in the quote section below but this is a definite feather in Alignment's cap for 2024.

Let's now look at the new offering for 2024 in many areas that attracting a lot of attention.

The Cash Back plan from Alignment

We have a big review on Alignment's 2024 Cash Back Part B rebate plan but we've had many people switch to this plan Jan 2024 from other Alignment plans.

Here's why!

The plan will pay towards your Part B premium up to $164/month.

Up to $1968 for 2024!

No wonder this plan is so popular with what's happening to the price of food and everything else lately.

We look at how to compare this $2K in cash back versus the other popular 2024 plans (like MyChoice or Platinum+ Instacart) at our CashBack Plan comparison.

It's basically a trade-off between this guaranteed $2K in cash back versus more exposure for big bills (max out of pocket).

The network is also different from the other 2014 Alignment plans (smaller) so make sure to enter your doctors when running the quote.

Speaking of which...

How to quote 2024 Alignment rates and apply

We make this free, fast, and easy:

We give you complete control here without pesky calls and emails. You can run all your quotes free and here's how to get the best quote:

• Make sure to enter your doctors under "Preference"
• Make sure to enter your medications, dosages, and preferred Pharmacy
• Sort up top by "Total Estimated Cost"

That's it!

If this is all confusing, we can run the quotes for you or just reach out to us at help@calhealth.net or book a time to chat: https://calendly.com/dennis-jnw

We can even compare the 2024 Alignment plans against other carriers like United, Humana, Anthem, Blue Shield, and more!

Check out our How to Compare Advantage plans if you really need a base-level understanding of these plans.

Be well!