BetterNotHelp.com

By Jonathan Reed
  • ethics
  • healthcare
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Content note: Mentions suicide and self-harm.

Scale never meant care

BetterHelp is an online therapy service; you most likely know from sponsoring any influencer with a pulse. Its marketing edge is being fast access to mental health professionals.

The reason for writing this is to have a place to showcase all the things BetterHelp has systematically failed at while only caring for growth. With multiple investigations, wrongful-death settlements, lawsuits, & more. This company is a beacon of how VC does not belong in the medical space.

Why it matters: BetterHelp is a market leader in online mental health. That visibility, coupled with persistent low quality of care, affects real people needing help. I hope my perspective as someone entering psychiatry & licensed as a medical professional in the State of Texas—I can show just how bad it’s gotten.

So much for HIPAA

I can’t speak for the globe. But in the U.S., patients have a legal expectation of privacy in medical settings under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In 2023, the FTC required BetterHelp to pay $7.8M in refunds after determining the company shared sensitive mental‑health data with advertisers such as Facebook. Imagine your doctor selling your bloodwork for some side cash. FTC press release, 2023.

This is not an isolated privacy lapse. It’s another example of why VC causes conflicts with patient protection.

Fine print & cost savings

Imagine arriving at a hospital & not being sure the staff is qualified. That’s the claim at the center of the most recent California class action against BetterHelp, alleging the company matched patients with unlicensed or unsuited providers despite marketing that all therapists are licensed while also claiming this in their TOS (Rodarte v. BetterHelp, 2024).

From BetterHelp’s own Terms of Service:

“You understand, agree, and acknowledge that the Therapists are independent providers who are neither our employees nor agents nor representatives. The Platform’s role is limited to enabling the Therapist Services. The Company does not itself provide Therapy Services and is not a healthcare entity. The Therapists themselves are responsible for the performance of the Therapist services.“

The complaint also describes LGBTQ+ clients matched with hostile providers, & mismatches on basic checks (e.g., pairing survivors of sexual assault with providers of the non‑preferred gender) (complaint PDF). These are fundamental triage checks that should occur before assignment. This is failing at the first hurdle.

Results of negligence

This is the part that gets buried. BetterHelp has repeatedly settled confidentially & out of court claims of negligence in wrongful death lawsuits involving patient deaths. If the company believed they met the standard of care, it would litigate; instead, it pays to settle every time.

The most recent matter involved a university student who reported multiple times explicit suicidal ideation to platform providers & therapist yet failed to receive adequate care, ultimately dying by suicide. The family reached a confidential settlement with BetterHelp (Feldman Shepherd case result). This is just the most recent one to hit the news; it’s not the only case.

Influencers help this spread

Most people learned about BetterHelp through creator sponsorships. Influencer marketing leverages parasocial trust to confer to the brand. This is the core of why influencer marketing is so powerful. The trouble comes when the product is advertised to people with medical conditions as a cure.

Worse, brand partners often moderate or suppress discussion of these issues in comments & community spaces. Search the comments of large creators who’ve run BetterHelp ads—you’ll rarely find mention of wrongful‑death settlements or the FTC actions. A great example of this is the YouTube channel & subreddit for Corridor Crew. They get a barrage of comments every time the sponsors appear, & they mass ban & delete any mention of these suits.

Wrap‑up & advice

Venture‑scale growth targets are fundamentally misaligned with patient‑first care. BetterHelp’s record of privacy violations, provider matching failures, and confidential settlements. I hope this recent history of BetterHelp shows why healthcare should not be optimized for blitz-scale style of VC.

If you or someone you know needs a therapist, consult your state licensing board for local, licensed providers. If you have insurance, your insurer can provide in‑network options. Other options include the American Psychological Association locator as a sound starting point.

If you need immediate help in the U.S., call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or your local emergency number.

References

Thanks for reading!

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