Key Findings from The Medicus Firm Survey

Physician Support of Health Reform in General
• 62.7% of physicians feel that health reform is needed but should be implemented in a more targeted, gradual way, as opposed to the sweeping overhaul that is in legislation.
• 28.7% of physicians are in favor of a public option.
• 3.6% of physicians prefer the “status quo” and feel that the U.S. health care system is best “as is.

Health Reform and Primary Care Physicians
• 46.3% of primary care physicians (family medicine and internal medicine) feel that the passing of health reform will either force them out of medicine or make them want to leave medicine.

Health Reform, Public Option, and Practice Revenue/Physician Income
• 41% of physicians feel that income and practice revenue will “decline or worsen dramatically” with a public option.
• 30% feel income will “decline or worsen somewhat” with a public option.
• 9% feel income will “improve somewhat” with a public option, and 0.8% feel income will “improve dramatically” with a public option.

Health Reform, Public Option, and Physician Supply
• 72% of physicians feel that a public option would have a negative impact on physician supply, with 45% feeling it will “decline or worsen dramatically” and 27% predicting it will “decline or worsen somewhat.

• 24% of physicians think they will try to retire early if a public option is implemented.
• 21% of physicians would try to leave medicine if a public option is implemented, even if not near retirement age at the time.

Health Reform and Recommending Medicine to Others as a Career
• 36% of physicians would not recommend medicine as a career, regardless of health reform.
• 27% would recommend medicine as a career but not if health reform passes.
• 25% of physicians would recommend medicine as a career regardless of health reform.
• 12% would not recommend medicine as a career now but feel that they would recommend it as a career if health reform passes.

Physician Survey: Health Reform?s Potential Impact on Physician Supply and Quality of Medical Care

Keep Up the Pressure, America: Flood Congress with Calls, E-Mails

RUSH: Let’s go to the audio sound bites from yesterday afternoon, last night, and this morning.VAN SUSTEREN: Rush Limbaughdoes something on air he has only done one other time.PERGRAM:  Rush Limbaugh had put out the word to have people flood the phone system.BLITZER: Rush Limbaugh, who urged callers to complain to Congress. BASH:  Rush Limbaugh told his listeners to call in. KARL:  On the radio, Rush Limbaugh doing something he rarely does, urging his listeners to call members of Congress. MEADE: Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh urged listeners to call the U.S. Capitol. KILMEADE: Phone lines were jammed up on Capitol Hill yesterday because Rush Limbaugh said here are some phone numbers. INGRAHAM: When Rush says something like that, I mean, when he says call that is basically a meltdown of the communication system on Capitol Hill. HENNEBERG: The phones being jammed to conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh giving out numbers on his radio show and website. RUSH:  All right, it’s even better or worse, depending on your point of view, than you’ve been told.  It was so bad that people inside couldn’t call out, either.  They were having to use their cell phones to get out of there.  I know a couple people who are journalists, and they said they couldn’t get through to their secret sources and their secret sources inside the Capitol couldn’t reach them.  They had to go outside, use a cell phone or something.  I don’t see any reason to stop this.  In fact, I don’t think you have let up.  I think I saw on Fox this morning that the phone lines are not as busy as they were, but more often than not you are going to get a busy signal.  We may as well keep the pressure ramped up because they do not have the votes, and there is no reconciliation bill.  There isn’t.  Heritage has it.  They have not been able to write it.  There is a lot going on with this.  Make no mistake about this. What they really want is to pass the Senate bill.  That’s the simplest way to get it to Obama to sign by Saturday so he can head off to wherever it is he’s going.

Let me explain in detail where I think they are on this.  Where they are right now is no votes.  Even if they turn Kucinich they’re now down 11, according to CNN, they’re 11 votes shy, and this actually dovetails with what we heard from Stupak the other day, who said they were 16 down.  He said they were at 200.  So it’s probably not five or four, even with Kucinich flipping.  Here are the numbers, and just keep barraging them, and if you get a busy signal understand that it’s a circuit busy.  They’ve sent out warnings from the Capitol communications office to members that it’s going to be like this all week.  They sent that out yesterday afternoon, so may as well stay at this because you are the ones, the American people are the reason why we are at this point.  I’m not cutting the Republicans when I say this.  They don’t have the votes to stop this.  And nevertheless Harry Reidis out there attacking them again today, but they can’t do anything.  They don’t have the votes.  It is you, the American people, speaking to your elected representatives all over the place.  On the Democrat Party side, you are the ones who have stopped this and it’s time to keep the pressure up.So here are the numbers, the toll-free number for the Capitol Switchboard: 877-762-8762. The toll call number, the direct toll number is 202-224-3121.  Now, we have these numbers at RushLimbaugh.com if you don’t have a way to write them down, if you’re driving around or something. If you have a smart phone, you can log on at a red light and get the numbers.  Here they are again: 877-762-8762,I guess this is the third time now that I’m — or maybe I could just say this is a continuation of yesterday, still only the second time in history that I have advocated this.  And there’s no better time than now.  It is really crucial.  I think all these phone calls that you made yesterday, there’s no question at all they had an impact.  I mean everybody noted it at the Capitol Hill switchboard.  And you know what?  This is surprising to me.  It may have been reported but I’ve missed it.  One of the reasons I’ve always shied away from doing this is that it would allow critics to delegitimize the whole thing.  “Well, of course people are calling.  They’re not calling ’cause they want to.  Limbaugh urged them to, you know, Limbaugh’s mind-numbed robots.”  They’re not reporting it that way.  They’re reporting it as a genuine outrage at the bill, and it is!  There’s no question.So 877-762-8762 is the toll-free number at the Capitol Hill Switchboard, 202-224-3121 and you probably are not going to have to pay for it because nobody’s ever going to answer it.  The odds of you getting through with the hundreds of millions of people trying to reach there are so slim, that go ahead and call the 202 number, even if you’re outta work.  We did a bit on “when does a call begin?”  Does a call begin when you dial it?  Does call begin when you get a ring?  Does a call begin when you get an answer?  And if it’s unwanted call, do you see the yellow blinking light or hear the ringer, and if you’re in the middle of a call and you don’t want it, you’ve answered it and you don’t want it, don’t want to deal with it and you hang up, have you successfully aborted the call and therefore don’t have to pay for it?  We checked this out with the phone companies back then in the late eighties and early nineties and they were perplexed at the question that we would look at it this way.  But for practical purposes here, the likelihood somebody is going to answer is so slim.  I don’t think you get charged for a busy signal, do you?  You don’t get charged for a call that’s not completed?  What does it matter?  Folks, even if you do, what does it matter?  202-224-3121, 877-762-8762.

BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Remember, now, if they “deem” the Senate bill to have passed, it includes everything in the Senate bill, but none of the changes, because the reconciliation bill is going to be a separate thing.  This is why Pelosi needs the reconciliation bill.  They want to be able to have it both ways, that they have approved the Senate bill but amended it, which allows the president to sign the Senate bill, and House members to claim that they had wanted it amended but the Senate wouldn’t do it.  This is all about putting Harry Reid and Obama on the spit.  This is Pelosi taking care of herself.  House members can blame the Senate while in the meantime the bill they never voted on but said was voted on is supposedly law.  Let me run through this again.  Pelosi needs the reconciliation bill because she wants to be able to have it both ways.  She wants to be able to say that they deemed the Senate bill to have been passed but that they amended it, which allows the president to sign the Senate bill and everybody’s under the illusion that the amendments, the reconciliation, will go to the Senate and they’ll pass that, sent back, and sent to the president, we got two bills, but it’s not going to happen.  What will happen is the president will sign the Senate bill and that’s it, end of story.House members able to claim they had wanted it amended and they did amend it, but the Senate wouldn’t do it.  Then House members can blame the Senate while in the meantime the bill they never voted on but said was deemed to have passed supposedly becomes the law of the land.  This allows ’em to basically say anything they want, which is exactly the purpose, to get the bill but claim no responsibility for it.  That’s why this is dictatorial.  This is why this is a dictate.  This is not governing.  This is not even managing.  This is dictatorial.  Pelosi and Reid are delivering victory to Obama and their party against the will of the people and in contravention of the Constitution.  That’s what this really is all about.  So she needs that reconciliation bill in order to get the House members that hate the Senate bill to vote for it.  She needs it.  And right now they don’t have it.  Right now they don’t have any text for it.  So I hope that this makes a corrupt, polluted, and very complex circumstance somewhat understandable.  Again the two phone numbers.  I’m told that there’s been a change here, 877-762-8762 is not answering, no busy signal, just a never-ending ring, is that right?  Okay.  We called it twice and no busy signal, it’s just not being answered.  That means it’s still working, folks, the system is still tied up.  The 202-224-3121, still busy.

BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Here are the two telephone numbers for the Capitol Switchboard, toll-free: 877-762-8762, which is now reporting a busy signal.  It was just ringing and not being answered.  Now it is reporting a busy signal again.  The other number is 202-224-3121.  They are really tied up.  People are having trouble making outgoing calls from inside the Capitol.  That was the case yesterday afternoon, I’m told it is the case today, and I’m told there’s quite a lot of frustration about this.  Snerdley made an interesting point to me mere moments ago, “What’s going on with the media here?  Normally they would be attacking the hell out of you for doing this.  You’re irresponsible, showboating, you’re just an entertainer, you’re gumming up the works.  But they’re not doing that, they’re not even saying that this is illegitimate.  They’re reporting it down the line, factually correct.”  One of the few times in history that something about me is being reported straight, factual, down the line and it is a curiosity.  Why?  I have no idea why.  This seems made to order, you know, to beat me over the coals again.The Seattle Times has a story: just who exactly supports what they’re doing in Washington other than the SEIU and ACORN?  Snerdley lived out there.  There are two papers out there, the Seattle Times is a left-wing bunch, there’s no question about it.  Just who in the country supports what they’re doing except ACORN and the SEIU?  The Washington Post with an editorial: this is absolutely the wrong way to go.  By the way, folks, phone numbers again, go to RushLimbaugh.com and click on the Code Red link.  At the Code Red link a bunch of local numbers that you can call, they’re in play, local congressional offices of members who are saying that they’re undecided, trending to “yes” or what have you.  It won’t be a long-distance call, obviously, if you use your cell phone.  People say, “Why don’t you give out the number to the DNC?  Why don’t you give out the number to the CBO?”Folks, it’s not necessary to do that.  The DNC doesn’t have anybody over there that’s going to be voting on this, and the CBO — you just stick with these two numbers: 877-762-8762, 202-224-3121, and if you do get through, I mean somebody has to get through here.  It is happening.  You gotta ask for a member.  You gotta have a Democrat to ask for to be connected to.  You won’t be connected and if you do get connected you’ll be shouted at, cursed at and hung up on, but you still ask for somebody.  You don’t tell the switchboard operator to vote “no.” The switchboard operator is just there to redirect your call.  Be very nice, “Thanks for answering, I’ve been calling for 24 hours, I’m glad you picked it up,” blah, blah, blah.  And the Code Red numbers are still in play.  They’re all local numbers.

BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: We got a third number here for you to call, ladies and gentlemen, a third Capitol Hill Switchboard number.  It’s very close to the other 202 number.  The one you have is 202-224-3121.  There’s also 202-225-3121.  And it’s busying out as well.  So all three of these numbers are busy, which means that you are continuing to melt the circuits in Washington.  The phone lines are finite, you can overwhelm them, it’s a little harder to overwhelm an Internet on an e-mail circuit, but phone lines are finite and they can only have so much capacity and we’ve obviously maxed it out here so much so that they’re expecting the max-out to continue the entire week.New Rasmussen polling data: “For the third month in a row, likely Republican nominee Pat Toomey holds a nine-point lead over incumbent Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania’s US Senate race.” Folks, the evidence of an electoral landslide against these liberals is everywhere.  Obama came to divide and he’s pulled it off.  He’s now at 46 approval, 47 disapproval in Gallup.  He is lower than McCain was in the general election.  So there’s a landslide brewing out there and this is why these leftists hate the people.  This is exactly why.  It’s why they’re willing to govern against our will.  They know we don’t want anything that they stand for.  That doesn’t matter to them.  They’re going to try to do it regardless and they’re in the process of doing it.  I have infinite faith in the country and faith in the people who live here that they’re just not going to put up with it.  We’re not just going to lie down, bend over, and succumb to this.  It just isn’t going to happen.  One way or the other, this is not going to be the law of the land, but we have to make that reality come true, and we’re working on these names.  I’m still trying to do all of the due diligence to make sure I need to publish these names and numbers on the website without incurring any kind of mistake or problem, so I’ll probably do of that after the program.

RL

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