In 1965 when the Department of Labor released a statement of the shortage, alien physicians were given preferred immigration status. By the mid-1970s there was a general consensus that the US had too many physicians. Attempts were made to curb the number of graduates and restrictions were put on immigration. The US currently has almost 600,000 physicians, about 233 for every 100,000. Wisconsin has 153 per 100,000.
All systems seem to function.
So current thought prefers using a ratio, the number of physicians in primary care balanced against the number of people in the population. By this ratio standard, Wisconsin reflects the pattern in the US has a whole. There is also an income difference with specialists having greater incomes than primary care physicians. Our current system of producing specialist physicians is out of balance with future market needs. Many agree that this takes away from the pool of available primary care providers and where those providers practice.