Best Online Therapy That Accepts Insurance

Talkspace is one of the few online therapy companies that ticks all the boxes: it accepts most insurance plans, is available nationwide, provides both therapy and psychiatry services, accepts teen and adult patients, and offers several communication options for therapy sessions, including messaging, live chat, video, and phone calls. 

Oren and Roni Frank founded Talkspace in 2012, while Roni was pursuing her master’s in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Both believe that mental health is a human right and their vision for Talkspace is “Therapy for All." Talkspace is great for those just starting therapy who may not know their diagnosis or for those with multiple diagnoses, since it has therapists who can treat a wide range of conditions: depression, anxiety, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), substance use disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma, and grief. Its therapists are also well qualified to treat the needs of people in the LGBTQ+ community. 

Additionally, people with psychiatric issues can get access to Talkspace’s stable of psychiatrists and work with them to set up medication management, if needed. All psychiatry sessions are done via live video.

To get started with Talkspace, all you have to do is fill out a brief assessment online, and then you’ll be given a few therapists to choose from. Typically, you’ll have your therapist set within 48 hours. Adults and teenagers both qualify to use Talkspace’s services. Talkspace offers marriage counseling for veterans, and civilian couples are welcome too.

On Talkspace’s website, you can fill out a brief questionnaire that asks what you’re looking for help with, and what insurance you have or if you’d like to pay with your EAP coverage (if applicable). Talkspace accepts many insurance plans from some of the largest companies, including Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Optum. They also accept Medicare and Medicaid.

Even if you’re paying out-of-pocket, Talkspace offers plans at a range of price points to suit every budget.

• Messaging Therapy: Unlimited messaging with guaranteed therapist responses five days/week, starting at $69/week 
• Live + Messaging Therapy: Four live therapy sessions per month through live chat, phone, or video call, and messaging starting at $99/week
• Live + Messaging Therapy with Workshops: Four live sessions, messaging, and weekly workshops, starting at $109/week
• Couples Therapy: Four live therapy sessions a month and unlimited messaging five days a week, starting at $109/week 

Depending on your health insurance, your costs may be partially or fully covered. If paying out of pocket, you can use a flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA).

Of the 105 users we surveyed, 94% rated Talkspace as excellent, very good, or good overall. Overall, 78% of users said their provider met all or most of their needs, and 82% said they would recommend the service to a friend. Our reviewers noted that they didn’t necessarily feel like they had a connection with their initial therapist, but that it was easy to switch. In our survey, 43% of users indicated they switched therapists between one to three times. In addition, 57% of users surveyed said their insurance helped cover the cost of therapy at Talkspace.

Talkiatry is one of the largest online psychiatric practices in the U.S., is in-network with every major insurance provider in the country, and accepts patients as young as five years old. Talkiatry treats many conditions, such as anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, depression, insomnia, OCD, PTSD, and substance use disorder. Patients have access to over 300 psychiatrists (and therapists as well). To access therapy, you must already be seeing a Talkiatry psychiatrist who can then refer you to a Talkiatry therapist.

If you want to explore Talkiatry’s services, first you’ll answer a few questions about what you’re looking for and about your medical history and then you’ll be matched with a psychiatrist who’s compatible with your needs and schedule. Your first virtual visit will be scheduled within days after this process is completed. 

You should know that Talkiatry explicitly states that if patients aren’t open to taking medication, then its service may not be right for them. Talkiatry says medication alongside talk therapy “is often the best way to address the conditions we treat.” 

Once accepted as a patient, you may find it helpful to download the Healow app, which helps patients book appointments, message their provider, view their health records, and attend virtual visits. Initial appointments are 60 minutes long and follow-up visits are 30 minutes long.

Talkiatry can only be accessed with insurance. It says it’s in network with every major insurer, including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana, Kaiser, Optum, and UnitedHealthcare. It also accepts Medicare, but unfortunately not Medicaid.

Prices at Talkiatry depend on your insurance. You can use Talkiatry’s filtering tool to learn if the company accepts your insurance. Talkiatry doesn’t accept Medicaid, but does accept Medicare. 

There are no free consultations, but you can get a free assessment to determine if Talkiatry can treat you.

Overall, our surveyed users were incredibly satisfied with this service: 95% rated Talkiatry as excellent, very good, or good, 87% said they would recommend the service to a friend, and 91% rated provider qualifications as excellent, good, or very good. Our reviewers described Talkiatry’s providers as personable, approachable, and knowledgeable.

MDLIVE has a massive network of therapists and psychiatrists, accepts most major insurers, scored extremely high on our user satisfaction survey, and is one of the few online therapy companies to offer appointment times outside of typical work hours, like on the weekends or during the evenings. That means you’re sure to find a provider who is a good fit for both your needs and your schedule.

Founded in 2009, MDLIVE easily lets patients choose their therapist and schedule therapy appointments to tackle a wide variety of conditions such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, OCD, panic disorders, trauma, and PTSD, as well as life disruptions such as addiction, grief/loss, and relationship issues. All therapists on MDLIVE have an average of 15 years of experience. MDLIVE’s therapists and psychiatrists can treat children and adolescents starting at 10 years of age. 

To get started, patients need to sign up for an account and then can check what their health insurance covers. Patients can usually get their first therapy appointment within a week or less. Therapy sessions typically last 45 to 60 minutes and psychiatric sessions are 15 to 30 minutes.

Potential patients should call their insurance company to ask if their plan offers MDLIVE as a benefit. If so, your insurance company can tell you what your copay is. MDLIVE accepts major insurers such as Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Humana, but it’s still best to contact your insurance company to confirm if your specific plan is accepted.

Prices depend on your insurance company and plan, but out-of-pocket costs can range from $0 to $108 for talk therapy and $0 to $284 for psychiatry. MDLIVE doesn’t offer free consultations or assessments.

Overall, our surveyed users were very satisfied with MDLIVE: 98% rated MDLIVE as excellent, very good, or good, 94% rated therapist qualifications positively, and 83% said their provider met all or most of their needs. Our reviewers called MDLIVE’s providers professional, helpful, insightful, attentive, and gushed about the user-friendliness of the website, affordable prices, and convenient scheduling. In all, 64% of users surveyed said they used insurance to access therapy at MDLIVE.

Monument eliminates the confusion of finding out if your insurance will cover your treatment by letting you easily submit your plan details on its website before you even commit to signing up for its service. 

Monument was founded by Mike Russell, who knows intimately what it takes to quit drinking; he battled with his own reliance on alcohol for years. With Monument, you can either commit to stopping drinking or lessen your intake, so it’s not an all-or-nothing approach. Patients are given tools such as medication, individual therapy, and group therapy to support them. Each patient is matched with a licensed therapist and doctor who will guide them through their alcohol treatment plan. Virtual therapy occurs every week or every other week (depending on the patient’s Monument plan) for one hour. 

If you want to explore Monument’s options, you must first take its brief survey to assess your drinking habits and select a plan. Then Monument will match you with a care team that may include a therapist, physician, and care coordinator. Afterward, you’ll be able to receive ongoing professional care with Monument’s care team and 24/7 support from the Monument community.

Unfortunately, Monument does not allow minors to enroll in its plans. However, many features are included in its membership, such as therapist-moderated support groups, an anonymous 24/7 online alcohol support forum, and resources that help people learn about alcohol dependence.

Monument currently accepts Aetna, Cigna, Optum, UnitedHealthcare, and more. You can submit your insurance details online on Monument’s website. Once you do that, one of Monument’s insurance specialists will get back to you to let you know if your insurance is accepted. Monument is in-network with Medicaid and Medicare depending on the state. Payments from FSAs and HSAs are also accepted.

Monument offers three add-ons to their $15 per month membership: 

• Physician care: $100 per appointment 
• Biweekly therapy: Includes biweekly sessions with a therapist, $149/month 
• Weekly therapy: Includes weekly therapy sessions, $249/month
  

There are no free consultations, but a free alcohol use assessment is available after registering.

Of the users we surveyed, 75% rated their overall experience with Monument as excellent, good, or very good, and the same percentage rated the company’s psychiatry/medication management services as good, very good, or excellent. Additionally, 77% rated provider qualifications positively. In all, 53% of users said they used their insurance to access Monument’s services.

Brightside mainly treats depression and anxiety, but it does so very well. Brightside will verify your insurance eligibility and outline your coverage details during the sign-up process. It takes a personalized approach to address depression and anxiety by determining the medication that’s the most effective for you, alongside clinically proven cognitive and behavioral therapy techniques. 

The wide range of mental health issues that fall under Brightside’s purview may surprise you. It treats adults with all types of depression and anxiety, including major depressive disorder, postpartum depression, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, bipolar, OCD, and panic disorders. Patients have access to weekly private therapy sessions, unlimited messaging, medication management, and Brightside’s self-care program. The program helps patients cultivate self-regulating and CBT skills and resilience.   

To get started with Brightside, you’ll have to fill out a brief questionnaire. You’ll then see your results and typically be able to book an appointment within 24 hours.   

Brightside’s new crisis care program is one of the first teletherapy programs specifically for people with elevated suicide risk. It is based on the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) framework, which is backed by 30 years of research. Most experts still recommend in-person care for those in crisis—questioning the effectiveness of virtual care in these situations—but having the option to seek care online will hopefully only increase the likelihood of people getting help.

Brightside accepts insurance, health savings account (HSA) or flexible spending account (FSA) payments, and out-of-pocket payments. Brightside accepts the following insurances: Aetna, Allegiance (owned by Cigna), Cigna, Anthem, and Optum/UnitedHealthcare in select states.

Brightside offers three subscription plan options: 

• Medication: Insurance copays or $95/month 
• Therapy: Insurance copays or $299/month 
• Medication and therapy: Insurance copays or $349/month

A free assessment is available, but there are no free consultations.

Overall, 90% of our users rated Brightside as excellent, very good, or good. Sixty percent of users said their anxiety made them look for therapy and 51% said depression made them pursue therapy. Moreover, 79% of users said their provider met all or most of their needs. Seventy-five percent of users said they were very satisfied or satisfied with the therapist options provided. Our reviewers said Brightside providers were personable and highly responsive, and easy to develop a rapport with.

Postpartum, or perinatal, depression, is one of LifeStance Health’s main specialties. The company allows you to easily determine whether your health insurance is accepted based on your state of residence. 

Founded in 2017 by healthcare executives, LifeStance provides a customized approach. It offers an impressive array of therapy and psychiatry modalities from acceptance and commitment therapy to dialectical behavioral therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, and ketamine therapy. 

For postpartum depression, patients may be treated with Zulresso, which is an intravenous infusion that can quickly help postpartum depression symptoms. While it must be administered in person, the treatment involves one continuous dose administered over two and a half days. Zulresso is the first FDA-approved medication specifically for PPD, and only certain medical professionals are licensed to provide it. While it can’t cure postpartum depression, it can help lessen symptoms that make it hard for parents to care for themselves and their new baby.

LifeStance has locations in 33 U.S. states, with around 6,100 highly trained clinicians on hand at approximately 600 centers, increasing the likelihood that you’ll be matched with someone who is right for you. Providers available include psychiatrists, advanced practice nurses, psychologists, and therapists. Children are eligible for LifeStance’s services, both therapy and psychiatry.

LifeStance Health accepts most commercial insurance plans in the states it offers its services (LifeStance is not available in all 50 states). On the website, you can click on your state and it will list the insurance providers it accepts. Depending on the state, Medicare and/or Medicaid may be accepted too.

Therapy sessions can range from $75 to $100 out of pocket. While costs vary depending on the provider, evaluations with a psychiatrist typically come out to $200 to $300 without insurance and subsequent sessions cost around $150 to $250.

Of our users, 88% rated LifeStance’s services as excellent, very good, or good. Specifically, 50% of users reached out for therapy at LifeStance because of depression. Seventy-three percent of users said the providers were able to meet all or most of their needs. Our reviewers described LifeStance’s providers as attentive and empathetic and said they would definitely want to see them again. Overwhelmingly, our users were impressed by LifeStance’s providers: 90% rated their therapist’s qualifications as excellent, very good, or good. In all, 72% of our surveyed users said they used their health insurance to help cover the cost of LifeStance’s services.

It’s hard enough to find an LGBTQIA-affirming therapist, let alone one that accepts insurance. TherapyDen makes this process significantly easier by allowing users to search for therapists licensed in their state of residence who accept their specific insurer and are gender-affirming, or even queer themselves.

TherapyDen aims to fill a gap that many therapy directories don’t address—that is, the lack of focus on queer providers, especially trans therapists. You can filter your search for a therapist with a wide variety of specifications to find the best match for you, such as gender, ethnicity, therapist’s language, free consultation, treatment techniques, familiarity with certain faiths, insurance, and more. 

TherapyDen’s providers offer every type of therapy, such as individual, couples, family, child, adolescent/teen, group, and psychiatry/medication management. TherapyDen also provides a search option for very specific topics of group therapy, such as people who have lost pets, so you can find the right group for you.

As TherapyDen is a therapy directory, it largely depends on the individual provider if your insurance is accepted. The directory is large, and most providers accept some type of insurance. One of the search filters you can use is providers who take your particular insurance company. You can also view providers’ profiles to see if they accept certain insurances and, if that information isn’t available, you can reach out directly to a provider.

Again, because TherapyDen lists different providers, costs vary. However, it’s always helpful to check a provider’s profile and the information they list because it can help answer questions such as cost and if a therapist offers free consultations or assessments. If paying out-of-pocket, you can search by appointment cost.

Of the users we surveyed, 80% rated TherapyDen as very good or good. Regarding whether they were able to find a therapist who met all of their needs, 60% of users said yes. Ninety-two percent said they were very satisfied, satisfied, or somewhat satisfied with the therapist options on TherapyDen, and 71% rated the number of therapists who offered payment options (e.g. sliding-scale rates, accept insurance, etc.) as good or very good.

Mindful Care offers a wide array of topics for group therapy and accepts most insurance plans in the states it serves. It does group therapy right—and comprehensively. Mindful Care’s group therapy is CBT-informed and groups are available for anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, trauma, bipolar disorder, and life challenges. It also offers groups specifically for queer patients, groups that teach patients how to have healthier relationships, and groups where therapists teach dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) to help clients learn how to better handle tough emotions.

Group therapy is beneficial not only because of what you learn from the therapist but also because of what you can learn from the other people in the group who are experiencing a similar situation or diagnosis as you. It’s important to note that group therapy is different from peer support groups because the former is led by a professionally trained therapist, and the latter is typically led by peers from various walks of life.  

Aside from group therapy, Mindful Care also offers individual therapy. It has same and next-day appointments Sunday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Usually, Mindful Care can get patients in within 48 hours, however, sometimes it’s longer due to high demand. Same-day, 20-minute micro-appointments may also be available. 

Mindful Care has nurse practitioners and certified physician assistants on staff. People ages 12 and older can use Mindful Care’s psychiatric services and those 18 and older can access its therapy services and substance use counseling.

Mindful Care accepts most commercial insurance providers, such as Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana, Oscar, and UnitedHealthcare. It also accepts Medicare and Medicaid. Your insurance acceptance will depend on the state you’re in and your individual plan. To get started, you can sign up on Mindful Care’s website for an appointment. From there, you enter your health history and your insurance information. Mindful Care will let you know if your insurance is accepted.

Even without insurance, group therapy at Mindful Care is an incredibly affordable therapy option.

For group and individual therapy:

• Initial evaluation: $150
• Group session (60 minutes): $35
• Individual session (40 minutes): $100
• Individual session (20 minutes): $50

For psychiatry (medication management):

• Initial evaluation (40 minutes): $175
• Follow-ups (20 minutes): $75

Of our users, 92% rated Mindful Care as excellent, very good, or good, and 82% said their provider met all or most of their needs. Overall, 83% of users said they were very satisfied or satisfied with the therapist options provided and 95% rated their therapists’ qualifications as excellent, very good, or good.

Headway is a rarity among online therapist directories: it only lists therapists who accept insurance and even takes care of the insurance paperwork for you. 

Headway makes the process of finding a therapist simpler with its various filter options. In addition to searching for a therapist based on your location, diagnosis or issue, and insurance company, you can also narrow down your search by provider availability, gender, ethnicity, option for phone consultations, languages spoken, therapeutic modalities, and more. Providers’ bios prominently show their next availability so you know when you can expect care. You can book a session with a provider via their profile. 

To estimate the session cost, you enter your insurance information via a provider’s bio and the website will calculate how much you may pay out of pocket. You can also choose to only view providers who offer a free, short consultation to determine if they will be a good match. Unlike most other directories, Headway takes care of all the insurance billing and claims.

Headway’s therapists accept most major forms of insurance, including Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Oxford, UnitedHealthcare, and Oscar.

Costs depend on specific providers. You can visit each provider’s bio, and depending on your insurance, the website will calculate your approximate session cost.

Of the 180 users we surveyed, 83% rated Headway as very good or good. Moreover, 67% said that finding a therapist who met all or most of their needs was very easy or easy, and 92% of users said they were very satisfied, satisfied, or somewhat satisfied with the therapist options provided on Headway.