Alignment Health Plan Receives Senior Choice Gold Award for Excellence

By: Jennifer Jopson

Community Writer

Photo Courtesy of:

Alignment Health Care

Photo Description:

Dawn Maroney, President of Alignment Health Plan, develops products to support members of their program.

Alignment Health Plan is one of 48 Medicare plans nationally to be recognized for cost-sharing effectiveness and value in the design of their 2016 medical and Part D prescription drug benefits for Medicare beneficiaries. Alignment Health Plan’s Heritage Preferred Choice HMO $0 premium plan is the only plan offered in San Bernardino County to qualify for the 2016 Senior Choice Gold Award. “As we develop products to support our members, we believe it is our responsibility to do the best we can by offering benefits and programs that are well-rounded,” said Dawn Maroney, president of Alignment Health Plan. “Individuals on Medicare have been paying for this program for many years, and being recognized in many of the markets we serve gives us validation of doing a job well-done.” Alignment Health Plan, formerly known as Citizens Choice Health Plan, is a subsidiary of Alignment Healthcare. Award recipients were selected from more than 110 Medicare managed care plans based on cost-sharing comparisons conducted by HealthMetrix Research Inc., a national independent managed care research firm. "This award addresses the concerns that beneficiaries may have with both Medicare plan performance and the out-of-pocket costs incurred after they enroll. Alignment Health Plan has demonstrated a commitment to delivering maximum value in the design of their plan benefits, co-payments, deductibles, and premiums. Coupled with achieving exemplary measurable performance, informed beneficiaries can rely on this award as an indication of overall high value and quality,” said HealthMetrix Research President Alan Mittermaier. The award selections were based on the 2016 estimated cost-sharing comparisons conducted in over 100 cities during October by HealthMetrix Research Inc. The annual comparisons estimate the out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries based on health status categories (healthy/episodic/chronic) and corresponding utilization of the most common plan benefits (physician office visits, emergency or urgent care, hospital care, prevention care, prescriptions). The comparisons identify the Medicare plans with the lowest and highest estimated annual out-of-pocket costs based on the approved 2016 member co-payments, deductibles and premiums that appear in the Medicare Plan Finder database (www.medicare.gov).