Scott W. Atlas

David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow
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Biography: 

Scott W. Atlas, MD, is the David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and senior fellow by courtesy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford.

Atlas's research interests are domestic and global health care policy, particularly the role of government and the free market in pricing, quality, access, and technology innovation. Atlas's most recent book is In Excellent Health: Setting the Record Straight on America’s Health Care (Hoover Institution Press, 2011). Other recent publications include Reforming America's Health Care System: The Flawed Vision of ObamaCare (Hoover Institution Press, 2010), "Relationship between HMO Market Share and the Diffusion and Use of Advanced MRI Technologies" (2004), with L.C. Baker; “Expanding CT and MRI Availability, Imaging Utilization in the Medicare Population, and the Challenge of Measuring Value” (2008), with L.C. Baker and C, Afendulis, and Power to the Patient: Selected Health Care Issues and Policy Solutions (Hoover Institution Press, 2005). Atlas has been interviewed about the role of government in health care on television, radio, and other news media, including BBC Radio and the Lehrer News Hour, and in newspapers such as Brazil’s Correio Braziliense, Italy’s Corriere della Sera, and Argentina’s Diario La Nacion.

Atlas is also the editor of the textbook Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain and Spine, now in its fourth edition; it has been translated into Mandarin, Spanish, and Portuguese. A member of the boards of many scientific societies and journals during the past decade, he has authored more than 120 scientific publications in leading journals on applications of MRI in neurologic diseases. Atlas also lectures throughout the world on advances in MRIs of the brain and the key economic issues related to technology-based advances. He has been on the Nominating Committee for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for several years and received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his leadership.

Atlas received a BS degree in biology from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and an MD degree from the University of Chicago.

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Recent Commentary

Featured Commentary

If You Like Choice In Health Care, Look To Republicans

by Scott W. Atlasvia CNN
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

America is facing the greatest health care challenges in its history.

Featured Commentary

Congress and ObamaCare: What To Expect Next

by Scott W. Atlasvia Fox News
Friday, November 14, 2014

The resounding rejection of President Obama and his administration’s policies seems like the obvious interpretation of the midterm election. And polling indicates that ObamaCare ranked near the top of the issues serving as the object of that widespread repudiation.

Waiting for Dr. Godot

by Scott W. Atlasvia Hoover Digest
Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Long treatment delays at VA hospitals shouldn’t shock us. In countries with government health care monopolies, waiting months—even years—represents business as usual.

Featured Commentary

ObamaCare's Anti-Innovation Effect

by Scott W. Atlasvia Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Socked by new taxes, U.S. health-care technology companies are moving R&D centers and jobs overseas.

Featured Commentary

Where ObamaCare is Going

by Scott W. Atlasvia Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, August 13, 2014

The liberal attraction to making government the sole source of health-care insurance has not abated even as the deficiencies in ObamaCare, a halfway move toward the single-payer model, have become increasingly evident. The question is whether growing signs of single-payer trouble overseas will be enough to discourage this country's flirtation with socialized medicine.

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Defining Ideas: The Surprising International Consensus on Healthcare

by Scott W. Atlasvia Defining Ideas
Thursday, June 19, 2014

Unlike our government, the Europeans are starting to understand that the cure to failed nationalized health systems is privatization. 

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Obamacare: What’s Happened and What’s Next

by Scott W. Atlasvia Fellow Talks
Monday, May 5, 2014

Scott Atlas, the David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, gave a comprehensive overview of the Affordable Care Act in his talk entitled “Obamacare: What’s Happened and What’s Next.” 

Healthcare Costs
Featured Commentary

The Coming Two-Tier Health System

by Scott W. Atlasvia Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, April 30, 2014

With the unveiling of the Affordable Care Act's website, the public experienced a painful reminder of the consequences of the government's new authority over health care.

Healthcare warning
Featured Commentary

Measuring the Success of Obamacare: Don't Be Misled

by Scott W. Atlasvia Real Clear Politics
Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Many key provisions of The Affordable Care Act were finally implemented earlier this year, and widespread dismay over the reality of an overreaching government immediately followed.

A Policy too Far

by George P. Shultz, Scott W. Atlas, John F. Coganvia Hoover Digest
Monday, April 21, 2014

Yes, we need to make affordable health insurance available. But to do so we need to scrap the “cover everything” mentality.

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