What Medicare Advantage plans are available from Alignment Health?
Medicare Advantage (Part C) is an alternative to Original Medicare (parts A and B) provided by Medicare-approved private insurance companies. Medicare Advantage plans provide the same coverage as Original Medicare but may also offer additional benefits, such as vision, dental, and hearing.
Alignment Health is one of the private insurance companies that offers Medicare Advantage plans.
Glossary of common Medicare terms
Out-of-pocket cost: This is the amount you pay for care when Medicare doesn't pay the full cost or offer coverage. It includes premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments.
Premium: This is the monthly amount you pay for Medicare coverage.
Deductible: This is the annual amount you must spend out of pocket before Medicare begins to cover services and treatments.
Coinsurance: This is the percentage of treatment costs you're responsible for paying out of pocket. With Medicare Part B, you typically pay 20%.
Copayment: This is a fixed dollar amount you pay when receiving certain treatments or services. With Medicare, this often applies to prescription medications.
Alignment Health Medicare Advantage plan options
Alignment Health offers different types of Medicare Advantage plans, including:
health maintenance organization (HMO)
health maintenance organization point of service (HMO-POS)
preferred provider organization (PPO)
special needs plan (SNP)
HMO plans
HMO plans generally require you to receive care and services from doctors, facilities, and other healthcare professionals within the plan's network.
They also typically include prescription drug coverage (Part D). You will most likely need to choose a primary care provider (PCP) with an HMO plan and get a referral from them to consult a specialist.
»Learn more: Medicare HMO plans
HMO-POS plans
HMO-POS plans have all the same requirements as HMO plans. However, with POS plans, you may be able to use out-of-network providers for a higher copayment or coinsurance.
»Learn more: HMO-POS plans
PPO plans
PPO plans offer a different level of flexibility. With PPO plans, you aren't required to choose a PCP, and you don't need a referral to a specialist.
PPO plans also allow you to see any healthcare professional who accepts Medicare. However, seeing out-of-network providers may mean higher costs to you.
»Learn more: Medicare PPO plans
SNPs
There are different types of SNPs. Alignment Health offers two of them:
What states offer Alignment Health Medicare Advantage plans?
Medicare Advantage plans from Alignment Health are not available in all states and areas.
Alignment Health offers coverage in:
California
Nevada
Texas
North Carolina
You can view the plans available in your area by searching your ZIP code on the Alignment Health website.
What do Alignment Health Medicare Advantage plans cover?
Medicare Advantage plans are required to offer the same coverage as Original Medicare (parts A and B).
This means that Medicare Advantage plans will cover services and treatments, such as:
inpatient hospital care
outpatient doctor's visits
preventive care
durable medical equipment (DME)
some home healthcare
Medicare Advantage plans may also offer additional benefits that Original Medicare does not cover. For example, some Alignment Health plans offer gym memberships and vision care.
Alignment Health Medicare Advantage plans also include an on-demand concierge team that you can speak with 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
How much do Alignment Health Medicare Advantage plans cost?
The following table gives examples of the 2025 costs of Alignment Health plans in various areas:
Location Plan type Monthly premium Copayments Out-of-pocket maximum
Wake County, NC
(ZIP code: 27605) Alignment Health Platinum (HMO-POS) $0 • PCP: $0
• Specialist: $3 $2,999
El Paso County, TX
(ZIP code: 79908) Alignment Health the One + Walgreens
(HMO-POS) $0 • PCP: $0
• Specialist: $15 $2,950
Clark County, NV
(ZIP code: 89109) Alignment Health Platinum + Instacart
(HMO) $0 • PCP: $0
• Specialist: $0 $1,499
Sacramento County, CA
(ZIP code: 94229) Alignment Health My Choice
(PPO) $89 • PCP: $5
• Specialist: $35 $4,200
These premiums are in addition to the Medicare Part B premium. Everyone with Medicare is required to pay the Part B premium, along with any other premiums required by their plan.
The information on this website may assist you in making personal decisions about insurance, but it is not intended to provide advice regarding the purchase or use of any insurance or insurance products. Healthline Media does not transact the business of insurance in any manner and is not licensed as an insurance company or producer in any U.S. jurisdiction. Healthline Media does not recommend or endorse any third parties that may transact the business of insurance.
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CNN
34 minutes ago
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Clicks! Likes! Sugar! Gambling! In a world of quick pleasures, an addiction expert says it might be time for a ‘dopamine fast'
Maybe you'd like to spend time on hobbies or hang out with friends, but nothing feels as exciting and engaging as it used to –– so you just squander another hour on social media. Your problem may have to do with your dopamine levels. In many parts of the world, people are fed media, activities and foods that can cause dopamine to surge and throw the balance off, and that could affect your mental health, according to Dr. Anna Lembke, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic and author of 'Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.' Lembke spoke with CNN about what dopamine is, what it does and how you can find better balance. This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. CNN: What is dopamine exactly? Dr. Anna Lembke: Dopamine is a chemical we make in our brain. Specifically, it's a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters allow for fine-tuned regulation of electrical circuits. Basically, our brain is a bunch of electrical circuits, a bunch of wires in the form of neurons that conduct electrical signals that allow for information processing — the job of our brains. Dopamine has many functions, but in the last 75 years or so, it's been identified as a key player in pleasure, reward and motivation. It's not the only neurotransmitter involved in that process, but it has become a kind of common currency for neuroscientists to measure the reinforcing potential of different substances and behaviors. CNN: How does dopamine impact our mental health? Lembke: It plays a central role in the phenomenology of addiction. Addiction is a brain disease where there's dysregulation in a specific reward pathway, a specific circuit in the brain, and dopamine plays a critical role in the brain's reward pathway. When we do something that's reinforcing, that releases dopamine in the reward pathway and tells our brain, 'Oh, that's something you need to do more of. That's important for survival.' The highly reinforcing substances and behaviors that we have engineered and have access to now are overwhelming the system. (They) release so much dopamine all at once in the reward pathway that the brain has to adapt or compensate by downregulating dopamine transmission. The result is that, over time, we can enter into a chronic dopamine-deficit state, where we have essentially changed our hedonic or joy set point. Now we need more of our reward — and more potent forms –– not to feel good, but just to stop feeling bad. And when we're not 'using,' we're experiencing the universal symptoms of withdrawal from any addictive substance or behavior like anxiety, irritability, insomnia, dysphoria and craving. CNN: Does this just affect people who have an addiction to drugs or alcohol? Lembke: We're all now kind of on the spectrum of compulsive overconsumption, moving toward addiction, which is resetting our hedonic threshold –– or joy set point. We need more and more of these reinforcers to feel any pleasure at all, and when we're not using, we're dysphoric, we're irritable, we can't sleep. CNN: What kinds of things risk putting us into dopamine deficit? Lembke: A lot of different things release dopamine in the reward pathway, including things that are good for us, like learning or spending time with friends. It's not that dopamine is the villain here, that dopamine release is bad –– not at all. The problem is that we've now engineered old-fashioned drugs to be more potent than ever before, and we've also created drugs that never existed before, like digital media, like 'drugified' foods. We've even taken healthy behaviors like exercise and drugified them by (tracking) ourselves and ranking ourselves and adding in social media and social comparisons. We're now seeing more and more and more people addicted to social media, online pornography, online gambling, video games and all manner of addictive digital media. There's emerging evidence that these digital media activate the same reward pathways as drugs and alcohol and cause the same kinds of dysregulations as we see in other addictions. It's the same thing with sugar. Ultraprocessed foods cause dopamine release, and the reward pathway leads to the same kinds of behaviors as when people get addicted to drugs and alcohol. There's a growing consensus that it's basically the same disease process, just with a different object of desire or reward. CNN: How can we find out if a substance or behavior is problematic? Lembke: When we look at what makes something addictive, there are several factors. One is potency, which refers to how much dopamine is released in the reward pathway and how quickly it's released. But other factors are simple things like access. We know that the easier it is to access a reinforcing substance or behavior, the more likely people are to use it and hence get addicted to it. We now live in this world of very easy, frictionless access to a lot of rewarding substances and behaviors. Digital media in particular is a 24/7 mobile access — anytime, anywhere, to an almost infinite source. The other thing that makes something addictive is the quantity and frequency of exposure. The more dopamine hits the brain gets, the more likely it is to change and adapt in a way that can create a disease of addiction. (Social media algorithms are) actually engineered to overcome tolerance and create novelty, to encourage people to keep searching for the same or similar rewards as what they've already viewed but hopefully a little bit better. The criteria for diagnosing addiction are pretty much the same across different definitions. You're looking for the four C's: out-of-control use, compulsive use, craving and consequences — especially continued use despite consequences — as well as the physiologic criteria that indicate biological dependence. Those would be tolerance, needing more (or more potent forms) over time to get the same effect, and withdrawal when you try to stop using. CNN: What can we do to address dopamine deficit? Lembke: What I recommend is a 30-day abstinence trial, colloquially called a 'dopamine fast,' from the drug of choice. Not from all rewards but just from the problematic substance or behavior to see how difficult it is to stop — and also to see if you feel better after four weeks. Why four weeks? Because that's, on average, the amount of time it takes to reset reward pathways, at least phenomenologically. I always warn people, they're going to feel worse before they feel better. But if they get through the first 10 to 14 days, often they will feel much better. After the abstinence trial, when people want to go back to using, they just need to be very specific about what they're going to use, how much, how often, in what circumstances, how they're going to track it, and what their red flags will be for slipping back into old habits. Then they can reevaluate whether they can really use in moderation. When it comes to food, obviously, people can't abstain, and nor should they try. But they can abstain from sugar. They can abstain from ultraprocessed foods. How do we engage in pleasurable things but stop before we get to dopamine deficit? Lembke: It's not about not having pleasure in life; it is about resetting the balance so that simple pleasures are rewarding again. That is not going to happen if people are constantly indulging in these frictionless, high-potency rewards. I talk a lot about 'self-binding' and making sure we don't constantly surround ourselves with easy access to these high-potency, cheap pleasures so we don't get into that problem in the first place. But it takes intentionality because we live in a world where we're constantly being invited to consume, and we're told that the more we consume, the happier we'll be. So, it does take planning and intentionality to create barriers between ourselves and the many drugs out there. Self-binding can mean physical barriers. If the issue is food, not having ultraprocessed food or sugary food in the house. If it's cannabis, not having pot in the house, not having alcohol. Now, if it's some form of digital media, you can use time as a self-binding strategy: 'I'm only going to use on these days for this amount of time with these people.' Other people are a very important form of self-binding. We tend to do what those around us are doing, so try to hang out with people who are using substances and behaviors in a way that you want to use them. Sign up for CNN's Stress, But Less newsletter. Our six-part mindfulness guide will inform and inspire you to reduce stress while learning how to harness it.
CNN
42 minutes ago
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Clicks! Likes! Sugar! Gambling! In a world of quick pleasures, an addiction expert says it might be time for a ‘dopamine fast'
FacebookTweetLink Maybe you'd like to spend time on hobbies or hang out with friends, but nothing feels as exciting and engaging as it used to –– so you just squander another hour on social media. Your problem may have to do with your dopamine levels. In many parts of the world, people are fed media, activities and foods that can cause dopamine to surge and throw the balance off, and that could affect your mental health, according to Dr. Anna Lembke, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic and author of 'Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.' Lembke spoke with CNN about what dopamine is, what it does and how you can find better balance. This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. CNN: What is dopamine exactly? Dr. Anna Lembke: Dopamine is a chemical we make in our brain. Specifically, it's a neurotransmitter. 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When we do something that's reinforcing, that releases dopamine in the reward pathway and tells our brain, 'Oh, that's something you need to do more of. That's important for survival.' The highly reinforcing substances and behaviors that we have engineered and have access to now are overwhelming the system. (They) release so much dopamine all at once in the reward pathway that the brain has to adapt or compensate by downregulating dopamine transmission. The result is that, over time, we can enter into a chronic dopamine-deficit state, where we have essentially changed our hedonic or joy set point. Now we need more of our reward — and more potent forms –– not to feel good, but just to stop feeling bad. And when we're not 'using,' we're experiencing the universal symptoms of withdrawal from any addictive substance or behavior like anxiety, irritability, insomnia, dysphoria and craving. CNN: Does this just affect people who have an addiction to drugs or alcohol? Lembke: We're all now kind of on the spectrum of compulsive overconsumption, moving toward addiction, which is resetting our hedonic threshold –– or joy set point. We need more and more of these reinforcers to feel any pleasure at all, and when we're not using, we're dysphoric, we're irritable, we can't sleep. CNN: What kinds of things risk putting us into dopamine deficit? Lembke: A lot of different things release dopamine in the reward pathway, including things that are good for us, like learning or spending time with friends. It's not that dopamine is the villain here, that dopamine release is bad –– not at all. The problem is that we've now engineered old-fashioned drugs to be more potent than ever before, and we've also created drugs that never existed before, like digital media, like 'drugified' foods. We've even taken healthy behaviors like exercise and drugified them by (tracking) ourselves and ranking ourselves and adding in social media and social comparisons. We're now seeing more and more and more people addicted to social media, online pornography, online gambling, video games and all manner of addictive digital media. There's emerging evidence that these digital media activate the same reward pathways as drugs and alcohol and cause the same kinds of dysregulations as we see in other addictions. It's the same thing with sugar. Ultraprocessed foods cause dopamine release, and the reward pathway leads to the same kinds of behaviors as when people get addicted to drugs and alcohol. There's a growing consensus that it's basically the same disease process, just with a different object of desire or reward. CNN: How can we find out if a substance or behavior is problematic? Lembke: When we look at what makes something addictive, there are several factors. One is potency, which refers to how much dopamine is released in the reward pathway and how quickly it's released. But other factors are simple things like access. We know that the easier it is to access a reinforcing substance or behavior, the more likely people are to use it and hence get addicted to it. We now live in this world of very easy, frictionless access to a lot of rewarding substances and behaviors. Digital media in particular is a 24/7 mobile access — anytime, anywhere, to an almost infinite source. The other thing that makes something addictive is the quantity and frequency of exposure. The more dopamine hits the brain gets, the more likely it is to change and adapt in a way that can create a disease of addiction. (Social media algorithms are) actually engineered to overcome tolerance and create novelty, to encourage people to keep searching for the same or similar rewards as what they've already viewed but hopefully a little bit better. The criteria for diagnosing addiction are pretty much the same across different definitions. You're looking for the four C's: out-of-control use, compulsive use, craving and consequences — especially continued use despite consequences — as well as the physiologic criteria that indicate biological dependence. Those would be tolerance, needing more (or more potent forms) over time to get the same effect, and withdrawal when you try to stop using. CNN: What can we do to address dopamine deficit? Lembke: What I recommend is a 30-day abstinence trial, colloquially called a 'dopamine fast,' from the drug of choice. Not from all rewards but just from the problematic substance or behavior to see how difficult it is to stop — and also to see if you feel better after four weeks. Why four weeks? Because that's, on average, the amount of time it takes to reset reward pathways, at least phenomenologically. I always warn people, they're going to feel worse before they feel better. But if they get through the first 10 to 14 days, often they will feel much better. After the abstinence trial, when people want to go back to using, they just need to be very specific about what they're going to use, how much, how often, in what circumstances, how they're going to track it, and what their red flags will be for slipping back into old habits. Then they can reevaluate whether they can really use in moderation. When it comes to food, obviously, people can't abstain, and nor should they try. But they can abstain from sugar. They can abstain from ultraprocessed foods. How do we engage in pleasurable things but stop before we get to dopamine deficit? Lembke: It's not about not having pleasure in life; it is about resetting the balance so that simple pleasures are rewarding again. That is not going to happen if people are constantly indulging in these frictionless, high-potency rewards. I talk a lot about 'self-binding' and making sure we don't constantly surround ourselves with easy access to these high-potency, cheap pleasures so we don't get into that problem in the first place. But it takes intentionality because we live in a world where we're constantly being invited to consume, and we're told that the more we consume, the happier we'll be. So, it does take planning and intentionality to create barriers between ourselves and the many drugs out there. Self-binding can mean physical barriers. If the issue is food, not having ultraprocessed food or sugary food in the house. If it's cannabis, not having pot in the house, not having alcohol. Now, if it's some form of digital media, you can use time as a self-binding strategy: 'I'm only going to use on these days for this amount of time with these people.' Other people are a very important form of self-binding. We tend to do what those around us are doing, so try to hang out with people who are using substances and behaviors in a way that you want to use them. Sign up for CNN's Stress, But Less newsletter. Our six-part mindfulness guide will inform and inspire you to reduce stress while learning how to harness it.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Measles cases surge to record high since disease was declared eliminated in the US
Falling childhood vaccine coverage and a large, smoldering outbreak that was kindled in an undervaccinated pocket of West Texas have driven the United States to a troubling new milestone: There have been more measles cases in the US this year than any other since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter-century ago. There have been at least 1,277 confirmed cases of measles reported in the US in 2025, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation. Just halfway through the year, the case tally has already surpassed the last record from 2019, when there were a total of 1,274 cases. Experts say this year's cases are likely to be severely undercounted because many are going unreported. Three people have died from measles this year – two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico, all of whom were unvaccinated – matching the total number of US measles deaths from the previous two and a half decades. Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, meaning there has not been continuous transmission for more than a year at a time. Reaching this status was 'a historic public health achievement,' according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, possible in large part because of vaccine development. The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine that is most commonly used first became widely available in the US in the 1970s. Before this year, there have been an average of about 180 measles cases reported each year since the disease was declared eliminated, according to CDC data. In 2019, large outbreaks in New York threatened elimination status; those outbreaks were concentrated in Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and Rockland County that had been targeted with anti-vaccine disinformation for years. This year, the vast majority of measles cases have been in Texas, with more than 750 confirmed cases associated with one outbreak that started in late January. If cases associated with that outbreak continue to accumulate through January of next year, the US could lose its measles elimination status. Most of those cases – more than 400 since the start of the year – have been in Gaines County, according to the state health department, where vaccination rates are well below the recommended level. In the 2024-25 school year, nearly 1 in 4 kindergartners in Gaines County did not have their required MMR vaccine, one of the worst rates in the state. Dozens of cases in New Mexico and Oklahoma have also been linked to the West Texas outbreak, and cases reported in Kansas may also be connected. Special vaccination clinics that have been stood up in response to the outbreak have led to additional coverage for thousands of people. Many of the affected counties have also introduced expanded vaccination guidance, allowing infants to get their first shot as early as 6 months old instead of waiting until 1 year. In New Mexico, nearly twice as many MMR vaccines have been administered this year than there were at this point last year, according to data from the state health department. And a recent analysis of health records by Truveta, a health-care data and analytics company, shows that early vaccination rates jumped among infants in Texas. MMR vaccination rates among 6-month-olds in Texas this year are more than eight times higher than they were in 2019, and in March and April, about 1 in 5 children who received their first measles shot in Texas had gotten it early, before their first birthday. But as the pace of new cases associated with the West Texas outbreak has slowed, cases have continued to accumulate across the country. There have been at least 27 total outbreaks – defined as three or more related cases – and at least 38 states have reported at least one case this year. Cases rose quickly in Colorado last month when an out-of-state traveler flew while infectious, leading to multiple cases among passengers on the same plane, and others among people who were in the airport at the same time and broader community spread from those cases. Other cases among Colorado residents were linked to travel to Chihuahua, Mexico, where there is also a large outbreak concentrated among the local Mennonite population. There is another large outbreak happening in Ontario, Canada, which was linked to multiple cases in Michigan. At least one person has died from measles this year in Canada, and there have been nine deaths in Mexico. In April, Mexico issued a warning for people traveling to the US and Canada due to high measles case rates. The CDC has also stepped up its guidance for travelers, advising that anyone traveling internationally should be vaccinated with two doses of the MMR vaccine. The vast majority of cases in the US this year have been in people who are unvaccinated; only about 8% of confirmed cases have been in people who had received one or two doses of the MMR vaccine, according to the CDC. At least 155 people with measles – about 1 out of every 8 cases – have been hospitalized this year, CDC data shows, and 28% of cases have been in children younger than 5. The MMR vaccine is safe and extremely effective – one dose is 93% effective against measles, and two doses are 97% effective – but measles is one of the most highly transmissible diseases in the world. The US Department of Health and Human Services has set a goal that at least 95% of children in kindergarten will have gotten two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, a threshold necessary to help prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious disease. The US has now fallen short of that threshold for four years in a row. A record share of US kindergartners had an exemption for required vaccinations in the 2023-24 school year, leaving more than 125,000 new schoolchildren without coverage for at least one state-mandated vaccine, according to data published by the CDC in October. When the measles case count reached its previous record in 2019 – under the first Trump administration – both the HHS secretary and CDC director at the time released statements emphasizing the safety and effectiveness of the MMR vaccine and encouraging Americans to get vaccinated. However, the CDC still does not have a director, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a long and complicated history with measles vaccines. In April, when there had been about 600 measles cases in the US, Kennedy made his strongest endorsement of vaccination yet – but it stood in stark contrast to years of work against measles vaccines. And last month, Kennedy dismissed an expert panel of vaccine advisers that has historically guided the federal government's vaccine recommendations, a move that concerned public health officials across the country. 'With an ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses,' Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement at the time.
