Having reduced the unit cost of physician fees during the 1980s, the federal government set up a Medicare pilot study in the state of Georgia in 1989 to test the impact of its cost containment strategies aimed at reducing volume of services. This research has attempted not only to clarify the nature of physician reaction to the Medicare pilot study and to quantify the level of the dissatisfaction, but also to provide a richer understanding of the dynamic meaning of the dissatisfaction that Georgia physicians feel.