- We have spent over 10,000 hours researching over 70 online platforms, reviewing and testing through the eyes of a client.
- We send out surveys and hold focus groups with real online therapy users to gain insight into users’ experiences.
- We also interview mental health experts to learn what you should look for in online therapy platforms.
- To review LiveHealth, we researched the platform and the therapists available through the site and reviewed the scheduling process. Our testers took part in online therapy with therapists on the platform and reached out to customer service with questions to give you insight on what to expect.
Learn more about how we tested LiveHealth Online
Key takeaways
- LiveHealth Online offers therapy and psychiatry sessions, as well as other virtual health care appointments.
- LiveHealth Online typically costs $85 for therapy appointments and $100 for an appointment with a psychologist. It costs $185 for an initial evaluation with a psychiatrist and $80 for each follow-up visit.
- LiveHealth does accept insurance and some Medicaid and Medicare plans.
- LiveHealth Online offers a basic approach to online therapy and may benefit to some users, but it doesn’t provide search filters to help you search for a therapist, and we encountered several technical glitches while using the website.
LiveHealth Online provides a straightforward approach to online therapy. You sign up for an account, complete your intake form, and then schedule an appointment with a provider. This is a pay-as-you-go service; there is no monthly subscription cost to use the platform, and you can use your insurance to pay for therapy session costs. LiveHealth Online also offers the ability to meet with a psychiatrist online and medication management, though we only tested the site’s online therapy services.
LiveHealth also has areas that disappointed our testers. You can select your own therapist when you make an appointment, but you don’t get the benefit of using search filters to choose your therapist, like gender, ethnicity, or mental health specialty. You also don’t have access to other additional resources, like journals or workbooks. Our testers also encountered technical difficulties when using the platform, and therapy sessions are only available via video, not by phone.
LiveHealth Online provides a useful service, and we like that it accepts insurance for online therapy and psychiatry, but other platforms we have tested have fewer technical issues and offer more options for finding the right therapist.
LiveHealth Online overview
Features
- Best for: Online therapy.
- Cost: Copay costs vary with insurance. Self pay for therapy is $85 per visit, a psychologist is $100 per visit, and a psychiatrist is $185 for the initial evaluation, and $80 for each follow up visit.
- Insurance accepted? Yes; verify with your insurance provider.
- Session lengths: 45 minutes.
- Types of therapy offered: Individual therapy for children and adults.
- Other care offered: Psychiatry and medication management, medical visits, urgent care, and allergy management.
- Communication options: Appointments held via video.
Pros and cons
Our expert opinion
LiveHealth Online offers a simple platform where you can schedule and receive online therapy and psychiatry services, as well as other virtual medical services. But LiveHealth Online lacks some key components that would make it a better choice for online therapy.
We like that it offers a one-stop shop for multiple types of mental health care, but users are required to create an account (free) before they can view available providers or check to see if LiveHealth’s providers are in-network with their insurance. You also can’t use search filters to find a therapist who matches your preferences, such as specialty, gender, race, or cultural background, and some states have fewer provider options to choose from than others. “Choosing your therapist is not the most user-friendly process,” one of our testers notes.
Some of our testers also said that they encountered technical issues using the website. For example, the site logged them out without warning on multiple occasions. The potential for an interruption during a therapy session, and having to log back in to resume a session, is less than ideal.
Who may like LiveHealth Online: If you’re looking for a simple online therapy or psychiatry platform, you may like what LiveHealth Online has to offer. One of our testers says, “It’s pretty streamlined—less tech-savvy folks can probably navigate LiveHealth’s website easily.”
Who may want to avoid LiveHealth Online: People who want more search filters for provider qualities like specialty, gender, and race to help select a therapist. People who want additional features, like journaling, workshops, or creating a personal file that saves your information as you go. “It was annoying that it didn’t save the information I’d already entered after it logged me out,” one tester says of the LiveHealth website.
Some of our Handbook testers experienced glitches while using the LiveHealth website and had to go back to the beginning.
What is LiveHealth Online?
LiveHealth Online is a website and app platform that brings several online telehealth options together in one platform. It offers individual therapy for adults, and for kids and teens between the ages of 10 and 17. Psychiatry, urgent care visits, and allergy care are also available.
LiveHealth providers treat a variety of conditions, including depression, anxiety, grief, and relationship issues, but the website doesn’t have filtering options for selecting professional and personal details that are important to you. Some of the other online therapy platforms we’ve reviewed, like Zocdoc, include the ability to use search filters to select for a specific mental health service, like a type of phobia or mental health condition, or to filter providers by gender, race, or religion.
How LiveHealth Works
LiveHealth Online has you register for a free account and then takes you through an intake process, which includes questions about your current health status and what kind of care you’re looking for.
From one of our LiveHealth Online testers
“I liked LiveHealth’s informative tooltips during its sign-up process. LiveHealth seems to go out of its way to protect your privacy and to let you know why it’s requiring certain pieces of personal information.”
Once you answer these questions and complete the intake process, you can check the schedule for available therapists in your area. Therapy sessions are 45 minutes long, and you can attend your video appointments on either the app or the website.
How to sign up for LiveHealth Online therapy
Our testers report that the sign-up process with LiveHealth Online is fairly easy. Once you start the process, you’ll be prompted to use an authenticator or phone code to keep your new account safe. We like the extra security measures the company takes. After that, the website asks for basic personal details, your insurance information, and your location so it can match you with providers (and emergency services, if needed) in your area. You can then select from their available care categories and view the providers who are available for appointments.
A Handbook Guide tester notes that the website logged them out without warning while they were signing up, and they had to start the sign-up process over again, which was an inconvenient and frustrating drawback to an otherwise smooth sign-up process.
From one of our LiveHealth Online testers
“For the most part, I like LiveHealth’s user interface. But I hated that it logs you out without warning if you idle outside of the website for a bit … and it doesn’t save any previously entered information if you’re in the middle of the sign-up/appointment scheduling process.”
How to match with an online therapist
LiveHealth Online doesn’t match you with a therapist, instead letting you choose your own. Unfortunately, the therapist bios aren’t very detailed and you don’t have search filters to make the selection process easier. The website presents you with a calendar filled with appointment times for the therapist you’ve chosen. You can look through their available time slots and select one to schedule a visit.
From one of our LiveHealth Online testers
“I wasn’t a fan of LiveHealth’s therapist matching process. Only three therapists were available for the whole next month. And their therapist bios were pretty sparse. LiveHealth doesn’t make it easy to match with a therapist based on factors like gender, orientation, religion, or cultural background.”
Caroline Fenkel, DSW, LCSW, chief clinical officer and cofounder at Charlie Health. “The more options you have to narrow your search, the more likely you will find a therapist who fits your needs. This level of personalization helps ensure you connect with someone you’re comfortable with and who is well-suited to help with your particular issues.”
When it comes to selecting a therapist on LiveHealth Online, you can view each therapist’s biographical information to see if their background aligns with your therapy needs. But the bios are minimal, as one of our testers notes. “The therapist bios I saw were pretty bare bones.”
The types of search filters that could be helpful for guiding you to a therapist who has what you’re looking for aren’t there, and that’s something to be mindful of when considering this platform.
Live video sessions
Our Reviews Team found that the quality of the video sessions themselves were good. The technical issues they encountered often occurred before getting on the call with the therapist. “I had hopped on just in time for my video call—but then LiveHealth said it had some questions for me to answer before getting on the call. Weird timing!” a tester notes. Though they had an option to skip the questions, the time it took still caused the tester to be late to their session.
The tester was also asked for their location prior to beginning the therapy session. After being asked for the same information several times during the intake process, asking for the location right before getting on a therapy call seemed unnecessary.
From one of our LiveHealth Online testers
“It asked for my location again once I clicked the button to enter my video call therapy session. At this point, I was a little annoyed with [how] often LiveHealth asked for my location. I get that the platform collects that info in case they need to send emergency responders, but I got tired of it asking for my exact address.”
One of our testers found that their first therapist was not a good fit, saying the therapist was not as welcoming as they would have liked. However, they did find the process of switching and scheduling an appointment with another therapist to be easy.
Cost and Payment
Insurance copays for LiveHealth Online sessions will depend on your insurance provider. If you’re paying out of pocket, LiveHealth Online costs $85 per visit for therapy. An appointment with a psychologist is $100 per visit. To schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist, the out-of-pocket cost is $185 for the initial evaluation, and $80 for each follow up visit. LiveHealth costs are generally in line with other known online therapy platforms like Talkspace and BetterHelp—though the others offer more perks and additional ways to attend sessions and contact your therapist between sessions than LiveHealth Online does.
Is LiveHealth Online covered by insurance?
LiveHealth Online does accept insurance, as well as some Medicaid and Medicare plans. LiveHealth recommends that you reach out to your insurance company to find out more about your coverage before making an appointment. If you’re interested in other online therapy platforms that accept insurance, check out our review of online therapy covered by insurance to learn more.
How to save money on LiveHealth Online
LiveHealth Online doesn’t offer financial aid. But the company does accept discounted coupon codes that can come from your employer, school, or insurance company.
Our experience with LiveHealth Online customer service
You can contact LiveHealth Online customer service via phone or email. We found that our experience with getting responses was mixed. One tester emailed customer service and waited days to get a response. Another tester emailed LiveHealth Online on two occasions, and each time they got a response in only a few hours. We found that the majority of the time customer service was very responsive and got back to us within a few hours or the next day.
Our LiveHealth Online testing experience
The Handbook Team has spent over 10,000 hours researching more than 70 online therapy platforms. We identified the top 26 platforms and personally tested each one. We also regularly facilitate focus groups and run surveys to understand the online therapy experience firsthand. To date, we have surveyed more than 2,000 online therapy users.
To test LiveHealth Online, we evaluated a variety of factors to help readers understand what the brand has to offer.
- User experience: Our testers explored the LiveHealth Online website and app and took notes on functionality and usability. In particular, we researched how easy or difficult it is to find and book with a therapist.
- Diversity of therapists: We conducted provider searches in multiple geographic areas to explore the number and type of therapists and psychiatrists available through LiveHealth Online. Our testers then selected therapy providers by reading the provider profiles.
- Quality of therapists: Each tester met with a therapist four times over the course of a month, evaluating their provider for performance, cultural sensitivity, and overall approach.
- Affordability: Our testers explored options for self pay, insurance payment, and sliding scale fees.
- Customer service: Each LiveHealth Online tester contacted customer service and took notes on how their concerns were addressed.
To learn more about how we test and score online mental health platforms, read our online therapy methodology.
Here’s a look at our testing process for LiveHealth Online therapy, from sign-up to canceling our account.
Create an account.
Complete intake assessment.
Select a therapist and appointment time.
Schedule and attend therapy sessions.
Review the process to switch therapists.
Contact customer support with questions or issues.
Deactivate the account.
Compare Platforms
LiveHealth Online’s costs are comparable to other online therapy platforms we’ve reviewed. Unlike Sesame, LiveHealth Online doesn’t require a monthly subscription fee; you pay by the visit. But with some of the other platforms we’ve tested, like BetterHelp, you get additional resources like access to group sessions, worksheets and journaling, and the ability to send unlimited text messages to your therapist between sessions. LiveHealth Online is lacking in that area.
| Monthly cost | $340–$400 without insurance | $260–$400 | $276–$436 | Varies according to therapist |
| Insurance accepted? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Services | Individual therapy for children, teens, and adults | Individual, group, couples, and family therapy | Teens, adults, and couples therapy | Individual and couples therapy |
Our final verdict
LiveHealth Online may provide a simple and straightforward option for people who are looking for pay-per-session online therapy. However, our testers encountered some technical issues on the site and wished there were more ways to filter and search for providers. We also found the therapist bios on the site very minimal, which made selecting the right provider more difficult. Our Handbook Team’s consensus is that additional tools and resources, like search filters, more detailed provider biographies, journaling, and between-session communication, would make this a stronger option for online therapy.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, psychiatrists with LiveHealth Online can prescribe certain medications that are not categorized as controlled substances.
LiveHealth Online is a telehealth platform that also offers online mental health services. You create a free account, answer several intake questions about your health and insurance coverage, and then select an appointment time with a therapist of your choice.
LiveHealth Online is a legitimate company that provides scheduled therapy and psychiatry sessions, allergy management, and urgent care.