Alignment Healthcare names new president as insurer eyes growth

Name: Dawn Maroney

Previous title: President of markets and CEO of Alignment Health Plans

New title: President, Alignment Healthcare

Alignment announced Maroney’s appointment on Monday in tandem with financial documents reaffirming the Medicare Advantage payer’s 2024 guidance and projecting confidence in reaching earnings targets for 2025.

The insurer, which bills itself as a tech-savvy MA provider better attuned to quality and outcomes, was founded in 2013 before going public in 2021. Since then, Alignment has worked to expand beyond its core California market, and has made progress on that goal, operating plans serving 182,000 members in six states as of the third quarter.

Alignment remains notably smaller than its other publicly traded peers in the privatized Medicare program. In comparison, UnitedHealthcare and Humana, the two largest MA payers, had 7.8 million and 6.2 million MA members respectively as of the third quarter.

Still, analysts have described Alignment’s recent growth as exceptionally strong. The company estimates it will have almost 210,000 members as of the start of year, representing 35% growth over 2024. Alignment expects to grow another 25% this year to 231,000 members. 

Maroney is being appointed to “drive this next phase of growth,” per the press release. The executive, who has been with Alignment for over a decade, will oversee the payer’s day-to-day operations in her new role.

In the two decades before Maroney joined Alignment in 2014, she held leadership roles at Blue Shield of California, Elevance, UnitedHealth and Centene, according to her LinkedIn.

In a recent bright spot for pure-play MA insurers like Alignment, the CMS earlier this week proposed a rate hike for MA plans that should result in payments increasing 4.3% on average in 2026. In addition, Alignment — which already touts high “star” or quality ratings — had the stars for one of its plans increase from 4.5 to 5 last summer after regulators recalculated the scores.