Health Care

Lessons From The Hoover Policy Boot Camp

Contributing Scholar: Scott Atlas

Rethinking American Healthcare

American health policy is often judged by coverage, spending, and intentions rather than access, quality, and outcomes. From the collapse of trust after COVID to the performance of US healthcare and the case for market-based reform, the central question is how to improve care without sacrificing choice, innovation, or accountability.

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Health Policy: Trust, Access, and Outcomes

Comment

Published August 21, 2026

The COVID pandemic left a substantial loss of trust in public health, medicine, and scientific expertise. At the same time, comparisons of healthcare systems often emphasize spending and insurance coverage without accounting for access to specialists, treatment delays, medical technology, drug availability, and patient outcomes. Atlas argues that these measures are essential to understanding what Americans receive for higher healthcare spending and what may be lost when costs are controlled by restricting access to care.

Check out more from Scott W. Atlas:

Watch "Doctors vs. Bureaucrats: Who Should Control Patient Care" with Scott Atlas here.
Read "The Educated Republic: Scott Atlas on Thomas Jefferson" by Scott Atlas here.
Read "Physician Autonomy and Free Speech" by Scott Atlas here.

Learn more about Scott W. Atlas here.

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The opinions expressed in this video are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University.