Feedback loop with Optum Home Delivery

My insurance with UHC about a year ago randomly switched to exclusively using OptumRX Home Delivery service, and if I try to have my prescription sent to any in-person pharmacy, the insurance bounces and gives back an error for mail-order only. They’ve sent me physical notices in the mail before about “Want to go to an in-person pharmacy? Just call and you can pick up a 90-day supply at any local CVS with CVS90”, yet when I call them they tell me no such option exists and that i’m crazy, so i’ve essentially coped with it since then dealing with the often times absurd turntimes and dealing with weeks without medication, but just recently my psychiatrist prescribed me Ritalin, which is of course a controlled stimulant, same thing, go through Optum. Optum calls me and leaves a voicemail saying “URGENT!! Please call us back!! Use reference number xxxx” I call them back and they say that nothing’s wrong and that must’ve been a false alarm. Come a week and a half later I recieve an empty envelope in the mail, no ritalin. I call again and they say “ohhhh that voicemail was because we needed to verify your identity, please send us identification and we can proceed and resend the ritalin.” We get this done and I think i’m finally in the clear, I wait another week and half with no medication and come today the delivery arrives. They sent the parcel via a special class of USPS shipment which requires a 21+ adult signature, presumably because of the controlled substance nature. The problem with this is I am an 18 year old adult living alone by myself with all of my family or anyone who could vouch for me hundreds of miles away. The USPS carrier had to verify ID and therefore I now could not recieve the medication i’ve been prescribed for 3 weeks and they said it’ll sit at the post office until december 2nd. I’m so sick of jumping through hoops and dealing with late shipments. I used to just be able to drive down the street a mile down the road and easily pick up my medications in person and talk to a real pharmacist until that “benefit” (bare minimum) was disabled at random. Is my only option to just circumvent insurance and give up and use GoodRX or something?

submitted by /u/vanillabepsi
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