A prominent Italian doctor swiped at President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in social media posts praising the medical care that injured American skiing star Lindsey Vonn received in Italy after crashing out of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Matteo Bassetti — the head of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at Policlinico San Martino University Hospital in Genoa and a former Yale University School of Medicine scholar — began his post on Instagram by sending Vonn his “best wishes for a speedy recovery” following her return to the United States.

See the post here.

But he then added a pointed dig at Trump and Kennedy, and the overall situation surrounding health care in the U.S.:

“Vonn was able to appreciate Italy’s extraordinary public health care system, which took care of her with three surgical procedures. In Italy, unlike in her country, we take care of everyone: rich or poor, VIPs or nobodies, Americans or Italians. If she gets the chance, she should explain to Trump and Kennedy Jr. what it means to take care of those who are ill.”

Bassetti shared the message in Italian with his 396,000 followers alongside a photograph of Vonn receiving treatment in a hospital in Italy.

In a later post, responding to criticism, Bassetti clarified that he “didn’t write that in America they only treat those who have money” but instead “wrote (and it’s quite a different thing) that in Italy we treat everyone, unlike in the USA, thanks to our extraordinary national health system.”

“Even if you have nothing and have no insurance policy whatsoever, not only do you get treated in an emergency, but also for elective procedures,” he continued. “I worked in the USA and I know very well, because I saw it with my own eyes, that certain surgical procedures and certain therapies (including those for HIV and cancer) are not performed or provided if you are not insured.”

Bassetti has criticized American health care on multiple previous occasions.

Earlier this week, he said that “thanks to the #antivax thinking of those who govern it,” the United States has become “Measles Country.”

“If we were an advanced country (from a health perspective), we would require Americans to be vaccinated before entering Italy,” he added.

The doctor also called out Joe Biden in 2024 when the then-president was pictured boarding Air Force One without a mask, despite having just tested positive for COVID-19.

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