Teladoc vs Amwell vs MDLive vs Doctor on Demand: Patient Complaints (2026)

Telehealth went from pandemic workaround to permanent primary-care channel between 2020 and 2026. By 2026 about one in five US adults uses a telehealth app at least twice a year, and five apps own most of the volume: Teladoc, Amwell, MDLive, Doctor on Demand, and newcomer Sesame Care. The pitch is simple, skip the waiting room, see a doctor in 20 minutes, done.

The 1-star reviews show the gap between pitch and reality. Consultations that last 6 minutes. Prescriptions that were "previously approved" getting denied by a new doctor on the next visit. Surprise $180 bills for a call the app said was "covered". Video feeds that freeze during the part where the doctor listens to your symptoms. And the core problem: it's rare to see the same provider twice, which means the medical continuity that makes primary care actually work is absent.

We analyzed 1-3 star reviews across the five biggest US telehealth apps to rank which one is worth the copay, which one is a regret machine, and what the complaint patterns reveal about how on-demand healthcare actually works in 2026.

The 5 Apps Analyzed

Store ratings are inflated because bonus-style onboarding UX scores well (fast account creation, clean intake forms), and most users rate immediately after intake. The 1-3 star subset is where the actual visit experience shows up.

Top Complaints Across All Telehealth Apps

Percentages are within the 1-3 star review subset.

1. 6-10 Minute Consultations That Feel Rushed (21%)

The single most consistent complaint across every telehealth app in the category. Users describe feeling that the doctor is already closing the note in the first 90 seconds of the visit.

• "Teladoc doctor spent 6 minutes, cut me off twice, missed the actual symptom I'd listed in intake"
• "Amwell visit was 8 minutes, doctor admitted they hadn't read my chart until halfway through"
• "MDLive: entered the waiting room at 2:03, left at 2:11. Nothing diagnosed, told to see in-person"
• "Doctor on Demand visit was essentially a triage, doctor's only question was whether I'd tried ibuprofen"
• "Sesame Care at least lets you pick a doctor with a longer visit slot. Then again that's why it costs more"

The structural reason is volume: telehealth compensation is per-visit, typically $25-40 to the doctor per session, and the economics require 5-8 visits per hour to make the doctor's time work. A 10-minute visit at 6 per hour is the category's default cadence. This works for simple refills and cold-flu confirmations; it doesn't work for the 30% of visits where the user has actual diagnostic complexity.

Sesame Care is a partial exception because pricing is per-visit direct to doctor (skipping insurance intermediation), and doctors can choose to offer longer sessions at higher prices.

2. Surprise Billing After "Covered" Visits (16%)

Users schedule visits through their insurance portal or through the app's insurance integration, complete the visit, and receive a bill weeks later that doesn't match what the app showed at checkout.

• "Teladoc quoted $0 copay, bill arrived for $89 two weeks later, 'out of network provider we assigned you'"
• "Amwell: insurance showed $25 copay, actual charge was $140 because the doctor was technically a specialist"
• "MDLive labeled my visit as 'urgent care' after the fact, triggering a higher copay"
• "Doctor on Demand visit my employer covers 100%, got a $175 bill from an out-of-network lab I never authorized"
• "Sesame Care is at least transparent, you see the price, you pay it, no surprise bills"

The pattern is a chain-of-custody failure between three systems: the app's insurance verification, the doctor's billing coding, and the insurer's adjudication. Users experience the discrepancy as bait-and-switch; the apps describe it as standard insurance billing. The result is the same: a bill you didn't agree to.

Sesame Care's direct-pay model is the structural fix, you pay a flat price before the visit, there is no after-the-fact billing. The tradeoff is that direct-pay is more expensive than insurance-covered visits for users with good insurance.

3. Prescription Denials for Common Medications (14%)

Users describe getting a prescription on one visit and having it denied on the next, sometimes by the same app, often by a different doctor within the same app.

• "Teladoc doctor refused to refill my 5-year ADHD med even though I had documented diagnosis and prior auth"
• "Amwell doctor denied antibiotics for a sinus infection that the in-person ENT a week later prescribed for immediately"
• "MDLive: 3 different doctors, 3 different opinions on my hypothyroid dose"
• "Doctor on Demand refused to continue my anxiety med saying 'we don't manage chronic conditions via video'"
• "Sesame Care at least lets you pick a doctor who specializes in your condition. That solves the 'different doctor every visit' problem partly"

Prescription denial has two drivers. First, telehealth doctors face liability risk on controlled substances (ADHD meds, anxiety meds, pain meds) that in-person doctors with an established patient relationship don't face to the same degree. Second, the 10-minute visit format doesn't leave time to read prior charts carefully, so doctors default to conservative non-prescribing when they're unsure.

The result is that telehealth works well for acute self-limiting issues (cold, flu, UTI, pink eye) and works poorly for chronic conditions that require continuity (anxiety, ADHD, thyroid, diabetes, hypertension). Users who try to use telehealth for chronic management describe the highest frustration.

4. Video/Audio Quality Fails at the Critical Moment (11%)

Video freezes exactly when the doctor needs to see the rash, audio cuts out while you're describing symptoms, or the app drops the call and restarts the waiting queue from scratch.

• "Teladoc froze for 40 seconds while I was explaining symptoms. Doctor responded to what they imagined I'd said, not what I actually said"
• "Amwell app crashed mid-visit, I got charged, had to restart the visit and get charged again (refunded later, took 3 weeks)"
• "MDLive video quality was so poor the doctor couldn't see my child's ear. Visit went ahead anyway, wrong diagnosis"
• "Doctor on Demand: audio-only fallback when video failed. Doctor was trying to examine a skin condition over voice call"
• "Sesame Care runs on off-the-shelf Doxy or Zoom backends, quality is actually better than the purpose-built apps"

Video quality issues are roughly uniform across the category because all five apps use roughly similar WebRTC backends. The apps that invest in video infrastructure (Teladoc, Amwell) have marginally better reliability; the apps that don't (MDLive) have noticeably more drops. All of them fail in rural areas with weak cellular, and the telehealth category's highest-value users (rural, underserved) are the same population most affected by these failures.

5. Wait Times Exceeding 45 Minutes for "Next Available" (9%)

The app promises "next available doctor" with an estimate of 5-15 minutes. Actual wait times during peak hours (6-9pm, Sunday evenings) routinely exceed an hour.

• "Teladoc 'next available' estimate was 8 minutes, actual wait 62 minutes on a Sunday evening"
• "Amwell said 15 minutes, waited 50, doctor joined and immediately said 'sorry running behind'"
• "MDLive waiting room estimate counted up, not down. 25 min turned into 45 min turned into 90 min"
• "Doctor on Demand gave me a 3-hour window to expect a callback. Had to reschedule my evening"
• "Sesame Care uses appointment slots, not next-available. Actually shows up on time"

Wait-time inflation is worst during 4 peak windows: weekday evenings 6-9pm (after work), Sunday evenings (dread of Monday with symptoms), Monday mornings (weekend symptoms escalating), and flu-season mornings. During these windows, the wait-time estimate is often half the real wait.

Sesame Care's appointment-slot model is the structural alternative, users pick a specific 30-minute window and the doctor joins at the scheduled time. Users describe the experience as more like a traditional appointment and less like a DMV queue.

6. No Continuity: Different Doctor Every Visit (8%)

The complaint that most reveals telehealth's fundamental model limitation. Users describe explaining their full history to a new doctor on visits 2, 3, 4, and 5 despite years of accumulated records in the app.

• "Teladoc: 5 visits, 5 different doctors, none of them read my chart"
• "Amwell doesn't let you request the same doctor as a previous visit. Every visit is a fresh intake"
• "MDLive showed me a 'preferred provider' option but it rarely had availability. Functionally you take whoever's on"
• "Doctor on Demand has 'Doctor on Demand Primary Care' product which promises continuity for a subscription, but the regular product does not"
• "Sesame Care lets you book the same doctor repeatedly at their posted rate. This solves continuity but at a premium"

This is the structural limitation that separates telehealth from primary care. Real primary care value compounds over years of one doctor knowing your history. Telehealth, by design, pools doctors for availability and treats each visit as independent. The result is that chronic conditions (which is where primary care value is highest) are the worst fit for telehealth, and acute-episodic conditions (where history matters less) are the best fit.

Teladoc and Doctor on Demand have paid subscription tiers promising continuity. Sesame Care's direct-pay model allows continuity at the user's discretion. For standard insurance-covered users on any other platform, expect a different doctor each visit.

7. Intake Forms That Take Longer Than the Actual Visit (7%)

The pre-visit questionnaire is often 30-50 questions covering history, symptoms, medications, allergies, and insurance. Users describe spending 20 minutes on intake for a 7-minute consultation.

• "Teladoc intake had 47 questions. Visit had 4"
• "Amwell intake asks same questions every visit, it has my full history from 4 previous visits"
• "MDLive intake is so long I gave up halfway and lied on 3 questions just to finish"
• "Doctor on Demand intake repeats insurance info I already had on file"
• "Sesame Care intake is short because the doctor you pick handles the history in the visit itself"

The structural issue is liability, intake forms capture the signed self-report that protects the doctor from malpractice if they prescribe based on what the user reported. The user experience is that the form doesn't save between visits (even though the data clearly exists in the app), so every visit starts from scratch.

This is the one complaint that's fixable with app engineering, persistent intake state, and the apps that haven't fixed it have simply de-prioritized it.

The 5 Apps Ranked

1. Sesame Care: Best for Users Without Good Insurance

Complaint rate: Lowest in category

Best for: Uninsured, high-deductible plan users, people who want transparent pricing

Main complaint themes: Upfront cost is higher than insurance copays for some users

Sesame Care is structurally different from the other four, it's direct-pay (you see a price, you pay it, no insurance billing). The model removes three of the category's top complaints at the source: no surprise billing, you can pick the same doctor repeatedly (continuity), and visit slots mean predictable wait times.

The catch is that direct-pay is more expensive than a $25 insurance copay for users with good insurance. Sesame visits range from $25 (quick consult) to $75 (longer primary care visit) to $200+ for specialists, all before insurance. For uninsured users or high-deductible plan users, Sesame often works out cheaper than the "covered" telehealth visits that get back-billed.

Best for: Uninsured users, people with $6,000+ deductibles, users who want to pick their doctor repeatedly, anyone who values transparent pricing.

2. Teladoc: Broadest Insurance Coverage, Most Polished App

Complaint rate: Middle

Best for: Users whose employer/insurance has Teladoc integration

Main complaint themes: Rushed visits, chart continuity, surprise billing when out-of-network

Teladoc is the category's biggest app with the broadest insurance partnership, if your employer provides telehealth as a benefit, it's most likely Teladoc. The app itself is the most polished in the category (best iOS build, cleanest intake flow, most reliable video infrastructure).

The complaint pattern is middle-of-pack: fast visits, intake friction, and the surprise-billing problem that hits when Teladoc's doctor network has gaps in a specific specialty (mental health, specifically, is a common gap). Teladoc's subscription tier (Teladoc Primary 360) addresses continuity for $5-15/month, for users who'd actually use telehealth monthly, this is the one paid upgrade in the category that's worth it.

Best for: Employer-insured users whose HR says "telehealth is through Teladoc", primary-care needs, acute conditions.

3. Doctor on Demand (Included Health): Best Mental Health Coverage

Complaint rate: Middle

Best for: Mental health visits, employer-sponsored plans through Included Health

Main complaint themes: Varying doctor quality, some surprise billing

Doctor on Demand rebranded as Included Health after the 2021 Grand Rounds merger and is now one of the top telehealth+navigation platforms for employer benefits. The mental-health and therapy coverage is the category's strongest, wider therapist network, better continuity (you can usually see the same therapist weekly), and scheduled appointments rather than next-available.

For primary care visits, Doctor on Demand is middle-of-pack, same 10-minute visits, similar intake friction. The differentiator is mental health and the benefits-navigation layer that Included Health added.

Best for: Therapy and mental health visits, employer benefits members, users who need care-coordination help beyond just video visits.

4. Amwell: Best If Your Health System Uses It

Complaint rate: Middle-high

Best for: Patients of health systems that white-label Amwell

Main complaint themes: Chart fragmentation, variable doctor quality

Amwell powers the telehealth arm of many major health systems (hospitals contract Amwell to run their branded telehealth product under the hospital name). If your local hospital system uses Amwell, your telehealth visits can potentially flow to the same EHR as your in-person visits, a real continuity advantage that no other app in this list offers.

Outside of that specific scenario, Amwell is middle-of-pack. The standalone consumer experience is similar to Teladoc with slightly more intake friction and slightly less polished video infrastructure. The value proposition is health-system integration, not the standalone app.

Best for: Patients whose local hospital uses Amwell as their telehealth brand, users who want telehealth notes flowing to their in-person doctor's EHR.

5. MDLive: Widely Available, Thinnest Experience

Complaint rate: Highest in category

Best for: Cigna/Evernorth-insured users who have no alternative

Main complaint themes: Variable doctor quality, video reliability, long wait times

MDLive is owned by Evernorth (Cigna's health services division) and is the default telehealth app for Cigna-insured employers. The app is functional but consistently rates lowest across the complaint dimensions: longest average wait times during peak hours, most user-reported video reliability issues, and the highest inconsistency in doctor quality.

The complaint pattern is volume-driven rather than structural, Cigna's scale pushes high user volume to MDLive, and the category's economics haven't scaled doctor capacity to match. The result is that MDLive feels more like a DMV queue than a clinical experience.

Best for: Cigna-insured users with no alternative telehealth benefit, acute self-limiting conditions (cold, flu, UTI) where visit quality matters less.

Patterns That Distinguish Good From Bad

Reading across all five apps, the complaint patterns line up with structural observations:

• Direct-pay models (Sesame) outperform insurance-billed models on satisfaction: transparent pricing eliminates surprise-billing and continuity complaints
• Mental health and chronic conditions are the worst fit for telehealth's visit model: the 10-minute format is structurally unsuited
• Acute self-limiting conditions (cold, flu, UTI, pink eye) are the best fit: diagnosis is mostly history-based, continuity matters less
• Intake friction is a solved problem the apps haven't solved: they have the data, they just don't reuse it
• Wait-time estimates are unreliable during 6-9pm, Sunday evenings, and flu season: plan accordingly
• Employer-insured users rarely have a choice of app: whichever one your HR picked is what you get

How to Actually Use Telehealth in 2026

Based on the review patterns, an effective telehealth strategy looks like:

• Use telehealth for acute episodic issues (cold, flu, UTI, pink eye, sinus infections, rashes, refills), these are where the 10-minute visit format works

• Don't use telehealth for chronic conditions: use in-person primary care for ADHD, anxiety, thyroid, diabetes, hypertension where continuity compounds

• Schedule for off-peak hours (Tuesday-Thursday mornings) to avoid the 45+ minute wait windows

• If uninsured or high-deductible: Sesame Care is the best direct-pay option

• If employer-insured: use whatever your HR provides and factor Teladoc Primary 360 subscription ($5-15/month) if you visit more than twice a year

• Screenshot the insurance/copay screen before every visit: it's the one evidence that stops surprise billing disputes

• For mental health: Doctor on Demand (Included Health) or a dedicated mental-health app (Talkspace, BetterHelp) beats general telehealth

Bottom Line

Sesame Care is the best telehealth app in 2026 for users without great insurance, direct-pay pricing removes three of the category's biggest complaint categories. Teladoc is the best insurance-partnered app with the broadest employer coverage and the most polished experience. Doctor on Demand (Included Health) wins for mental health. Amwell is worth considering if your local hospital uses it. MDLive has the highest complaint rate and most users are on it because Cigna assigned them.

Before your first visit with any telehealth app, read the most recent 1-star reviews on Unstar.app for the specific app, doctor quality varies significantly by state, time of day, and day of week, and the last 60 days of reviews from your region predict your experience better than nationwide averages.

The broader pattern: telehealth solved one specific problem (access for acute issues) by replacing one type of friction (driving to a clinic and waiting in a lobby) with another (a 10-minute visit with a doctor who hasn't read your chart). For the acute category it still wins. For chronic primary care, it didn't solve the problem, it just moved where the friction lives. Most of the 1-star reviews are users who didn't understand which problem telehealth actually solves, matched with apps that marketed themselves as solving both.

Related reading: Mental Health App Reviews: What Users Say About Wellbeing Apps covers the adjacent category of therapy and wellbeing apps (Talkspace, BetterHelp, Headspace) which have different patterns than general telehealth. Health & Fitness App Reviews: What Users Really Want covers the broader health app landscape. Subscription App Reviews: Reduce Cancellations covers subscription-tier dynamics that telehealth's paid primary-care upgrades depend on.