Optum RX - STAY AWAY

All of the Medicare Advantage Plans Stink. It's pick your Poison. I've had many. Not much difference. Their CSR's have not got a clue. You try to speak to someone with knowledge on Your question, and they throw up a smokescreen. They open the same book You have, and recite word for word, what You already know. Medicare Advantage Companies are a Multi Billion dollar industry. They could not care less about us Seniors.  It's all about the Benjamin's.

I wish I had read this topic before switching from a UHC/AARP Medicare Supplemental Plan to the Medicare Advantage plan. I had CVS for mail order for prescriptions on that plan and they never screwed up once. They filled every prescription quickly and accurately. My spouse switched over to a Humana medicare advantage plan last year and it worked well for her. After we moved to Florida from Colorado last year my UHC/AARP monthly premium increased over $50 per month so I switched to the UHC Advantage plan during the open enrollment period.

The first thing I found was that my prescriptions with refills could not be transferred over from CVS to Optum Rx. So I scheduled and appointment with my new primary care physician and gave him a  list 6 prescriptions to send to Optum Rx. After not hearing anything for several weeks I called the doctors office and they said "Oh you wanted us to send those in?" to which I replied  "Well yes,that is why I supplied you with a complete typewritten list of my prescription medications". D'oh!. So they sent in the order to Optum Rx and I received 5 of them fairly quickly from Optum Rx.

The 6th was a generic formulation for Exforge blood pressure medication. I have been taking this for at least 10 years and never had a problem getting it. Without going into gory details I have been round and round with Optum Rx who claimed it was out of stock and they don't have a freakin' clue when it will be in stock. I have been given shipping dates that later disappear on the web site. Yesterday the order just disappeared from the web site as if it never existed.

When I called and yelled at the first CSR after getting the same nonsense out of stock answer I got to a lead person (also ESL) who talked to several people and then suggested they could contact my doctor and get 3 prescriptions for the components of Exforge. That's where it stand now. They kept offering the option of filling it locally which is fine except for the $30 copay out of my pocket. Why should I pay to fill it locally when they are a national pharmacy?

I wrote a long complaint to UHC on their secure message thing yesterday. I told them that my experience with Optum Rx would cause me to look at other plans.

BTW, the secure message system on the Optum Rx web site had been broken until today. I hope my complaint had something to do with getting it fixed bu who knows.

There is no question that Optum is a behemoth participating in making our terrible national health system as bad as it is, by squeezing consumers as much as possible.

I had nothing but double-talk from them when I contacted them about other issues.

Here's something I found by accident while navigating the horror of drug pricing: GoodRx is very, very chummy with Optum, the pharmacy benefits octopus that owns many of the so-called drug discount cards, meaning Optum negotiates so-called discounts with itself via these cards.

(If you look at GoodRx’s business fillings for GDRX, the SEC had some questions about it’s relationship with Optum, which is one of the 3 main pharmacy benefits managers forming the base of GoodRx’s business model.)

I happened to phone the customer service number on an old GoodRx card -- 888 277 3911 -- and an Optum representative answered the phone. I verified that he was at Optum, and not their discount card department, either. He said he didn't know anything about GoodRx (or discounts on drugs).

How odd that Optum would coincidentally end up with an old customer service number that had been used by GoodRx.

Very possible Optum's tentacles have swallowed up GoodRx, too, and both companies are so slimy they're hiding it.

After quoting my insurance agent one price for a particular medication, once ordered, the price doubled and upon renewal would have put me into the Donut Hole! They are charging twice what CVS is charging and THREE TIMES what Rite Aid is charging. Attempts to get this issue addressed through the filing of "Escalation" letters led to weeks of no response despite multiple calls by myself and my agent who then found out they closed the case without ever speaking to either of us. This is going to cost me hundreds of dollars for no other reason but OptumRx misrepresented the price of one of my key medications. They are a disgraceful and shameless company who do not deserve anyone's business. BTW, AARP constantly pushes advertising for UCH and, therefore OptumRx, but attempts to get them to advocate for a 19 year AARP Member were completely ignored.

It's ironic that I was emailed this thread since I only just realized that my prescription has gone up on every refill. I am trying to transfer it to CVS, which is half the price. OptumRx wanted over $15! I used to get it a few years ago for $4! After reading all these reviews, I'm going to call them right now and make sure they transferred my prescription. My other prescription price has stayed the same and is cheaper than other pharmacies, so I'll keep that with OptumRx, but I'll be sure to keep an eye on it.

  I completely agree with the Stay Away approach.  After my usual pharmacy decided to close I transferred a couple of prescriptions to OptumRx.  What a mistake.  Since they had a list of all my prescriptions they decided on their own to reorder the rest without my authorization.  I called, wrote, emailed, and messaged to cancel those.  On the sixth try they finally cancelled. 

 Using my law school knowledge, I looked up the laws.  There are no laws that I found that prevent pharmacies from attempting to refill a prescription.  There should be.  These people are hard to deal with and should be avoided.

100% agree with "stay away."  Horrible, deceptive, money stealing organization.  These people took it upon themselves to contact my physician and ask her to write a new prescription for an old one that had expired.  They never informed me of what they were doing and the only reason I found out was because I got an email saying they were filling my prescription!  I called and managed to get it canceled but they then went to ANOTHER prescription ans asked my doctor for a new prescription, again without my knowledge!  Also, every time a prescription goes in they put it on automatic refill without informing me.  When I complained about this practice, their response was that they don't do it!!  They basically said I was a liar while they outright lied to me!  STAY AWAY!!!  

Well after 2 years OptumRX is working better.  I guess they just need time to get their act together.

I'm sorry you had such bad experiences. I have been with OptumRx for several years and love it. I get Levothyroxine (for thyroid disorder) at NO COST (with Medicare and United HealthCare supplemental) so I could not be happier. 

 3 comments (11/26/22) Hi @SarahH845050 , thank you for sharing your experience. So sorry you had to go through this! Any "updates" for us? I am "stressing out" already over signing up NEXT June 2023. Way too many problems with Optum RX. 😱Nicole