A  new study says that more than 20.3 million American children may have insurance but still face severe barriers in accessing essential healthcare.

Analyses by the Children’s Health Fund  showed that 28 percent of the population under 18 lack adequate healthcare. This includes uninsured children; those who have private insurance  but don’t get regular primary care, and  those who are publicly insured  (e.g., Medicaid and CHIP) and connected to primary care, but don’t get essential and timely specialty care.

“While children’s healthcare has experienced increased and significant attention in recent years, our analyses show there is still a long way to go before we can claim that all U.S. children have access to the care they need. There has been a persistent misconception that simply providing health insurance is the same as assuring effective access to appropriate healthcare. It isn’t,” Irwin Redlener, M.D., co-founder and president of CHF, and the paper’s lead author, said.

“Although Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and most recently the ACA {Affordable Care Act} insure more children than ever before, millions of kids are not getting the care they need.”

Among the researchers’ recommendations to improve access: increasing incentives to get providers to practice in poor communities; improving access through telehealth and mobile clinics; promoting health literacy, and helping parents with limited English.

To read the report, please hit this link.