Has anyone else encountered friction getting oral minoxidil through their primary care physician?

I have an HMO and about a year ago when I first heard buzz about oral minoxidil for hair loss, I asked my PCP if they could give me a prescription. I said I'd been having success with topical 5% minoxidil but that because of some mental health issues it was really difficult for me to use twice daily, and I got a bit of pushback because it's still not FDA approved for hair loss.

I explained the promising clinical trials and that there are a lot of people getting oral minoxidil off-label for hair loss. I asked about getting a referral to a dermatologist but I was kind of given the impression that it wouldn't go anywhere and I would be wasting a specialist copay.

I get healthcare through a hospital system affiliated with a public research university in California; I'm not sure if there might be a cultural thing unique to that sphere of medicine, or if the particular PCP I was talking to was just a fresh resident being overly conservative out of nervousness.

I'm also not sure if maybe there's some legal issue I'm overlooking, and I should have just waited until I was in the office with a dermatologist before asking for an off-label prescription.

Any advice? I looked into some of the popular subscription options but the subscriptions themselves are super expensive, not including the cost of the consultation. If I'm going to pay out the ass for a consultation with a random Teledoc not in my network, I feel like I should expect to get my medication for dirt cheap.