California Medicare Options - What Advantage Plans work with Optum in Los Angeles
What Advantage Plan will Work with Optum Medical Group in Los Angeles
It's interesting...these days, most conversations we have around choosing an Advantage plan starts with a medical group or doctor.
"What plan works with X medical group??".
This is especially true in large, populous areas where massive medical groups dominate.
Hello Optum in LA County!
If you go east to Pasadena for example, Optum is a monster player with a huge array of doctors and access to critical facilities.
In fact, if we're in that area, Optum will probably drive the decision more than anything else.
Pretty similar for example to Sutter up North.
This is especially true for Advantage plans in LA county where they all bunch of in terms of cost and benefits.
We'll explain more below along these lines:
- How to compare Advantage plans for Optum Access
- Alignment versus UnitedHealthcare® Advantage plans and Optum
- How to Compare Alignment and UnitedHealthcare®
- How to Quote and Apply for Advantage plans that work with Optum
As for our credentials:
Let's get started!
How to compare Advantage plans for Optum Access
We provide the online quoting tool below that allows you to quote dominant Advantage plans available in your area here:
Make sure to enter your doctor, RX/dosage, and preferred pharmacy information.
The doctor piece is important if you want an Optum doctor.
When I enter Optum providers, here's the top two plans to total estimated cost (best way to compare):
Here's the next few:
- #3 Humana Gold Plus H5619-021 (HMO)
- #4 Alignment Health AVA + Instacart (HMO-POS)
- #5 Alignment Health smartHMO (HMO)
- #6 Humana Gold Plus H5619-146 (HMO)
- #7 Alignment Health My Choice CalPlus (HMO)
- #8 Alignment Health the ONE + Rite Aid (HMO)
- #9 Aetna Medicare Core Plan (PPO) H5521-419
You seeing a pattern there?
Alignment (for now) is incredibly aggressive and competitive if you want an Optum provider. Big reviews on Alignment health, UnitedHealthcare®, Humana health.
We especially like the two top 2 plans which probably speaks to why they're the top 2.
Now if your medication mix is really involved, you might see this ranking change but this is not likely.
Keep in mind that this is a sample quote so yours may be different! We'll look at how to get the exact rates and options below.
For now, let's compare these different options.
How to Compare Alignment plans for Optum
Unless you qualify for D-SNPs (get additional help such as medi-cal) or C-SNPs (have chronic illnesses), the two two plans are really hard to beat.
This is based on our Triple Threat selection:
Let's break those down based on this.
The deductible is zero for both but that's pretty standard in Greater Los Angeles for Advantage plans.
It's out-of-pocket max that we're excited about. This explains your exposure in case of really big bills.
$198 and $498 are some of the best max's we see in the entire State!
It makes them super competitive with medicare supplements (see Advantage versus Supplements).
What's the difference between these two plans? We have a massive comparison and review of Advantage plans but let's decipher the top 2.
The first one includes a special benefit for grocery deliveries with a Instacart tie-in:
Members with a qualifying chronic condition who enroll in one of these plans will have access to:
- $50 to $100 quarterly grocery allowances through Instacart
- A complimentary Instacart+ membership with free delivery on all orders over $35
- A live customer support line to assist members while setting up an Instacart account and placing orders
- A curated Alignment Health Virtual Storefront on Instacart where members can easily shop Alignment Healthcare’s recommended items
That's $200-400 per year of found money! No wonder it's so popular.
The second plan is their standard option if you don't have a chronic illness and the max is still about ½ of the standard offering in Los Angeles (usually around $800).
So really...the dividing line is whether you have a chronic illness (in which case, the first one is more beneficial).
There are other options down the way but really D-SNPs (Dual eligible with medi-cal) or if you want the Part B rebate would be the only reasons we would go beyond the two plans above.
Again, you can look Humana, Aetna, and UnitedHealthcare® for Optum as well but you'll see when you run your quote and then sort by "total estimated cost" that it's hard to justify "why".
This is why Alignment is moving up the ranks!
We can work with any of the big Advantage carriers and there's no cost for our assistance:
So...what about your rates?
How to Quote and Apply for Advantage plans that work with Optum
We believe in making this available to you right away without any hassle so you can run your quote here:
A few notes to get the most accurate quote.
Make sure under "Preferences" to enter:
- Doctors
- Medications/Dosages
- Preferred Pharmacy
Then filter by "Total Estimate Cost" up top.
You can actually enroll right through the quote system securely but of course, we're happy to help with any questions at help@calhealth.net or just set up a time to talk here: https://calendly.com/dennis-jnw
There's zero cost for our assistance and we don't push or sell. We're happy to answer questions!