Help me reason with United Healthcare/Optum to get my prescription renewed
Background: last time I (31F) saw a doctor about this prescription in person was in 2022 when I lived in Colorado (I have since moved to California) and had Kaiser insurance. At that appointment, the doctor told me she was going to be moving out of state soon, so I probably wouldn’t see her again. Soon after, I switched to United Healthcare due to a new job, and United Healthcare uses Optum Pharmacy. In 2023 the prescription seemed to renew automatically with a new doctor prescribing it. The doctor’s address was in Texas, so I assumed United/Optum had automatically assigned him to me for purposes of renewing the routine prescription or something like that.
Current problem: I go to renew the prescription again and I get an email from Optum saying “Your order cannot be completed. Your doctor did not approve your order. Please call your doctor.” I called the number for the prescribing doctor as it shows on the United Healthcare website and I got… the Kaiser clinic in Colorado that I visited in 2022. It has a phone tree that demands a Kaiser ID number, which I don’t expect to be active anymore, so I don’t think calling the doctor is a real option. I looked up the Texas address for that doctor and, while there is a clinic there, it doesn’t have a doctor by that name, so the address is either wrong or outdated. I looked up the doctor’s name and didn’t find any better contact information for him, though I did confirm there is a doctor by that name at the Kaiser clinic (but also, it’s a common name).
Side note that it’s pretty messed up that there’s nowhere on the United or Optum websites that will tell me anything at all about WHY the order isn’t approved. Just saying.
Anyway, my first thought is that maybe there’s something wrong with the doctor’s contact info and Optum isn’t equipped to actually notify me of this. I chatted with United’s customer service and they bounced me to Optum’s customer service. I chatted with Optum’s customer service and they said I probably need a new PCP and that’s a United problem, not an Optum problem. On the United website I selected a local PCP for myself, but when I went to reorder the prescription it didn’t give me an option to change the doctor. On second thought, I don’t know if United actually informs the PCP of your selection or if that selection is supposed to be reporting who your PCP is to United after establishing that relationship irl. I chatted with United’s customer service again and they said I should get a virtual visit. Looked at Optum virtual visits and there were literally no open visits any time in the future. Started to set up Galileo, but the level of personal information it asked for gave me pause (I know, getting healthcare requires sharing personal information, but I expected they’d be more tied into United, which already has my info).
So the question is: what do I do now? I live in somewhat of a healthcare desert, so I expect that if I try to get an appointment at the local clinic it may be months from now given that I definitely won’t die for lack of these particular meds. This problem should be solvable with a 5 minute conversation istg, an appointment should not be needed when phones and email exist. Also, I’d rather not take the time off from work if I don’t have to. Does anyone know if United informs PCPs that they’re been selected by patients? Is there a way to just switch what doctor Optum asks to renew the prescription and is that a reasonable thing to do? I really miss how Kaiser let you send secure messages to your doctor via the website. Alternatively, should I just bite the bullet and sell my soul/personal info to Galileo?
Thank you
